Paul
Goble
Staunton, July 11 – Tens of
thousands of residents of Khabarovsk and other cities in that Far Easter
territory came out today to protest Moscow’s arrest of their governor Sergey Furgal
and the central government’s decision to bring him to the center for charges concerning
his alleged involvement in a long-ago murder and holding his trial there.
Estimates of the crowd ranged up to
60,000, but even if it was half that number, the demonstration would be the
largest in that city’s history and would be the equivalent of a protest meeting
of one million people in the Russian capital, a remarkable development given
that the demonstration was not approved but actively opposed.
The authorities attempted to
frighten people from attending by suggesting that the march and protest would
become a super spreader event for the coronavirus, but once the marchers
assembled, the police avoided any intervention, perhaps a reflection of their
own views on the matter or a fear that trying to arrest anyone would trigger
violence.
At the simplest level, the
demonstrators were in the streets for their governor and against Moscow. They
recognize that Moscow removed him not because of some long ago murder but
because he was an opposition party (LDPR) governor who was enormously popular
for his modest approach.
But most of all, they protested
because he was their choice; and they clearly resented Moscow’s intervention.
They chanted “freedom for Furgal” and insisted that any trial of him should be
in Khabarovsk rather than in Moscow. And they also shouted “Down with Putin!”
and “Shame on Moscow!”
As the BBC’s Russian Service points
out, the Russian Far East is “well-known for its opposition attitudes,”
regularly casting large numbers of votes for those who oppose Moscow and
against measures like the constitutional amendments that the Kremlin wants to
push through regardless (bbc.com/russian/news-53371781).
Whether the situation will
deteriorate or explode depends to a large extent on whom Putin chooses as
Furgal’s successor. It the replacement is from Moscow, there will be more
protests, local people say; if Moscow chooses someone from within the kray,
then the situation may very well quiet down.
Russian commentator Abbas Gallyamov
says that Moscow chose to remove Furgal now not because of the July 1 vote but
because it doesn’t want to have gubernatorial elections in Khabarovsk kray this
year. No matter whom Putin appointed, that individual would lose and the
Kremlin knows it (facebook.com/abbas.gallyamov/posts/10217051557191661).
Aleksandr
Kynyev, a Moscow political analyst, told the BBC that the Khabarovsk demonstrations
show that the Russian Far East is becoming an ever more serious problem for Moscow
because in the eyes of its population, “the federal center has been transformed
into a symbol of evil.”
Three
other Moscow commentators make clear that Russians far from Khabarovsk
understand that and, in many cases, feel exactly the same way, something that
represents an even larger problem for the Kremlin especially given how much attention
the Furgal protests have attracted in the regional media.
Roman
Popkov says it is important to remember that the people of Khabarovsk have
longstanding reasons to be angry with the center. Moscow gave away land on
which many of them had dachas to China a decade ago. But things have
deteriorated because the Putin system has become “harsher, more rigid, and thus
from fragile”
As
a result, he argues, “such cracks in it as now in Khabarovsk, will appear”
elsewhere as well (facebook.com/roman.popkov.56/posts/3208785915845908).
Aleksandr
Plushev says that he will be “very surprised” if Moscow doesn’t respond by
arresting those it sees as the ringleaders, launching a propaganda campaign
suggesting that the demonstrators were backing a criminal, and putting off
regional elections (t.me/PlushevChannel/8443).
And
Aleksandr Skobov says Putin should reflect now on the fact pointed out by Ekaterina
Schulmann that “unpopular autocracies lose if they apply first. The key word
here being ‘first’” and also on the reality that Russians in the hinterlands
are more democratic than the denizens of the Kremlin (facebook.com/alexander.skobov/posts/3284471444947379).
“Siberia,
the Far East, and the Primorye are potentially an order more democratic than the
European core of the Muscovite empire just as the Russian North is potentially
an order more democratic than Muscovy. That is because this is the distant
periphery of the empire, its ‘frontier,’” he continues.
And
he ends by saying “Long live the Far Eastern Republic! Long life the Primorsky Zemtsvo
Government!”
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