Paul Goble
Staunton, Feb. 15 – The Russian Truckdrivers Union has sent a letter to the president, prime minister and transportation minister arguing that no law affecting them should be adopted and that any laws on the books since 1991 should be reviewed and possibly repealed with the participation of the union’s membership.
The letter, a copy of which has been acquired by the Svobodnaya pressa portal, documents a wide variety of steps Moscow has taken or is currently considering taking without listening to the truck drivers and insists that situation is unjust, unsustainable and must be changed (svpressa.ru/society/article/502720/).
It is extremely unlikely that Russia’s top officials will agree to such an arrangement, but it is an intriguing one nonetheless because it is an example of how Putin’s de-institutionalization of Russian governance is leading at least some groups to push for a corporatist style of government, one in which powerful sectors would have at least a veto on what Moscow does.
As such, the union action may be a bellwether of the ways in which the Russian government may function regarding at least some groups in the future, likely without much publicity except in cases where the group involved, as in this case with the truck drivers, feels excluded and decides it has no choice but to raise this to the level of public discussion.
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