Since 2017, Regions Center of Russian Protest, Blok Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 15 – Over the last four years, there has been “a tectonic shift” in Russian protests, Mark Blok, says with popular actions in the regions and republics rapidly eclipsing those in the capital in size, frequency and radicalism and thus laying the groundwork for a radical change in Russian political life.

            The commentator for Irkutsk’s Babr24 portal says that this shift meant that by 2019, the regions rather than Moscow is where most of the action is. Among the most important protests in the regions were those in Arkhangelsk against a Moscow trash dump plan, those in Yekaterinburg against a church replacing a park, and those in Ulan-Ude regarding the shaman.

            Blok doesn’t mention those in Ingushetia against Yunus-Bek Yevkurov’s territorial giveaway to Chechnya but he could have. He acknowledges there were also actions in the capitals but those in the regions and republics were more important for several reasons (babr24.com/msk/?IDE=202832).

            “All these protests,” Blok continues, “developed approximately according to a single scenario: a spontaneous outburst of anger about this or that action of the powers that be, an inadequate response by the local authorities, a harsh response by the powers and then a growth in the number of protesters, and a decision of the authorities to retreat lest thing get out of hand.”

            It is that pattern, one in which the people in the streets are engaged in a de facto negotiation with the people in power, that sets the protests in the regions off from those in Moscow where in most cases, the Kremlin and its local agents don’t negotiate in this way, although there have been exceptions.

            When the situation in Moscow followed the regional pattern and when the city authorities felt they needed to make concessions lest the protests expand beyond their control, there were serious protests in the capital. But they were serious because in those cases, the Muscovites were acting like people in the regions rather than like what they had been before. 

            Before analysts and commentators could integrate this new reality into their thinking, the pandemic came, shutting down political activism almost everywhere. But then came Khabarovsk to highlight the new reality in which popular activism is going to continue to grow, albeit not in places or for causes that those in Moscow are most used to.