Paul
Goble
Staunton, December 2 – Long-haul
truckers across Russia are angry that Moscow has labeled their union “a foreign
agent” but they are not intimidated by that moniker and say they will resume
their strike in two weeks in order to force the government to listen to their
cries of despair and meet them at least half way.
Five journalists from Radio
Liberty’s Siberian Realities spoke with six representatives of drivers and
union leaders about their reaction to the “foreign agent” charge and about
their plans to file suit against the government challenging its finding and to
resume their strike on December 15 (sibreal.org/a/28890846.html).
Nataly Guseynova,
a Novosibirsk truck company owner who is the Siberian coordinator for the
Carriers Union, says that Moscow’s decision to call the union as foreign agent
is baseless and reflects not the application of Russian law but rather the
arbitrary decision of some senior official in Moscow for political reasons.
She says the union will appeal the
justice ministry’s action and will carry out its planned strike two weeks from
now.
Aleksandr Chernyk of Irkutsk’s PROAVTO
says the identification of the union as “a foreign agent” will allow the
security agencies to track more closely union activities and to dissuade some
drivers from taking part. But the charge
is so absurd that it shows that in Russia today, “it is possible to accuse
anyone.”
The reason there haven’t been more
protests and strikes by the truckers, he continues, is that economic conditions
have become so dire that people are forced to work even under the most adverse
conditions. But the fact that the Plato
money goes not to the state but to one of Putin’s friends will ensure that more
people will come out December 15.
Andrey Grekov, a long-haul driver
from Omsk, hasn’t worked as one for six months because the Plato system has
made any activity other than sitting and doing nothing unprofitable. It is thus
driving independent drivers into the arms of big companies and hurting the
economy as well.
Zoya Zholnerchuk, who heads a small transport
company in Omsk, shares that view. She says that Moscow is against independent
drivers and wants them all to be controlled by large companies that the regime
can more easily put pressure on. From the center’s perspective, “everyone must
be a slave.”
Andrey Bazhutin, the president of the
Carriers Union, says that he and his drivers have the same view of “this
political circus” that they did before the “foreign agent” label was pinned on
them. He says that the small amount of
money that supposedly came from Germany likely was a Russian government “provocation.”
“Our organization,” he continues, “doesn’t
get involved in political activity. It defends the rights and freedom of
citizens.” As for the notion that his plans to run for president were behind
Moscow’s decision, Bazhutin is skeptical: “To express one’s intention and to
take part are different things.”
He adds: “It is very strange when
Russian guys, born and living in Russia are called foreign agents. Many of them
have never left the country … they work here, and their parents and
grandparents are buried in this land. Over all this time, we only once went to
Germany to meet with union officials there.”
But Bazhutin says, Medvedev and Putin routinely go abroad
so what is the problem?
And
Igor Rybsky, a driver from Krasnoyarsk who has taken part in all Russian
trucker strikes, says he will be on the picket lines later this month. He says
that his conscience wouldn’t allow him to do otherwise and that he has the
complete support of his wife. Moreover, “now
that we are foreign agents, we must justify that status.”
Months
ago, Russian officials called us “gray carriers,” he says. Now, they call us “foreign
agents.” That is insulting, but “we are patient and act by legal means. We don’t call for anything illegal, but [the
powers that be] don’t listen to us.”
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