PUTIN'S MONDAY MORNING


On Monday, the day after the closing ceremony at the Sochi games the defendants in the so called Bolotnaya Case will be sentenced. The trial in Moscow represents a modern day Russian show trial. The defendants had all protested against Putin’s return to the Kremlin on 6 May 2012 in Bolotnaya Square. They were met with brutal police violence and were all charged with riot. You can read more about the trial here, http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/russia-guilty-verdict-bolotnaya-case-injustice-its-most-obvious-2014-02-21.

Though receiving considerable publicity the case is only one of many such trials representing Putin’s ongoing clampdown on freedoms of assembly, association and expression.

In the run up to the games Putin sought to soften western criticism by releasing members of Pussy Riot and the Greenpeace activists and by adopting his best Mr Reasonable tone.

Now as the last Olympic competitors clear passport control Russian opponents of Putin have good reason to be afraid.[1] As Putin wakes up this Monday morning the Revolution in the Ukraine will greatly add to the paranoia of an already seriously paranoid man. Putin fears and loathes liberalism and has nowhere to go if toppled, he also knows that his popularity in Russia is now waning and that the events in Kiev provide a worrying template for anti Putin protesters. If Putin starts to feel cornered he will stop at nothing to retain power.

In the meantime Nick Cohen has drawn attention to the Achilles heel of the gangster oligarchs, their assets in the west.[2]  A timely reminder of this vulnerability, the freezing of assets owned by Ukrainian oligarchs in the west pending investigation by the new Ukrainian authorities would be most welcome.

It is also important to continue to offer our solidarity with the likes of Pussy Riot and other human rights activists in Russia.    


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