On July 11th, ahead of the G8 summit the main leaders of Russian opposition and human rights activists gathered in Moscow for a two-day conference, called Other the Russian Federation. The conference focused on what the real the Russian Federation looks like and on ways to combat the Kremlin´s tightening grip on civil society. Trying to disturb the conference, the police detained many delegates. However, the gathering has also underscored the rifts dividing the opposition. (14-JUL-06)
Text: HRH/ Moscow, Yanina Savenko. Sources: demos-center.ru, hro.org, svobodanews.ru. Photos: commersant.ru.
The conference brought together leaders of diametrically opposed political parties – nationalists together with democrats – human rights activists, public men and representatives of foreign organizations. The conference was titled Other the Russian Federation to show the world that the Russian Federation that Putin will display this week at the G8 summit in St. Petersburg differs from what he called “the real Russia”. The participants took floor accusing Russian authorities of cracking down on the media, opposition parties, and private business, and of throwing dissidents in jail. They also adopted a statement and called on Western leaders to pressure Putin in St. Petersburg to end so called systematic political repression.
Team of liars is ruling the Russian Federation
“We are meeting at the Other the Russian Federation conference to show the scale of civil resistance to the bureaucracy´s trampling of our constitutional rights and freedoms and to activate our potential,” said Ludmila Alekseeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group. “This is not a declaration of war of society against the authorities. This is a call for peace between them – but on honourable conditions for civil society, on conditions of equal partnership.” Well-known human rights activist Sergey Kovalyov accused Russian authorities of creating an image of a democratic country, with a rubber-stamp parliament and repressing freedom of speech. “Lying has become an instrument of Russia’s domestic and foreign policy … they have organized a team of liars and imitators,” he said.
Kremlin’s machinations
Tens of delegates were harassed, arrested and beaten. Some were also implicated in drug possession as they were traveling to the conference. In defiance to a Kremlin warning several Western diplomats, including British Ambassador Anthony Brenton, attended the conference. Earlier Igor Shuvalov, Russia´s envoy to the G8, said that Kremlin would consider the participation of foreign officials in the Other the Russian Federation conference as “an unfriendly gesture.” During the conference pro-Kremlin youth groups staged pickets outside the hotel where the conference was being held. Dozens of demonstrators stood dressed up in American Indian-style feather headdresses. One of them said that this outfits signified that the conference is bankrolled by foreign enemies of the Russian Federation, including the United States and that an opposition attempts to isolate the Russian Federation in “reservations”. Meanwhile, under the gaze of dozens of policemen another group of protesters held a separate rally against Putin’s regime. The activists were carrying posters saying “Russia without Putin” and “We need a different Russia”.
Split in the opposition
Although the Other the Russian Federation conference was intended to be a symbol of the unity of anti-Putin forces, there were many human rights activists and politicians who boycotted this meeting. The two main liberal parties Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces refused to participate. Their leaders explained that they did not want their representatives to sit in the same room as National 
Bolshevik Party leader Eduard Limonov and Viktor Anpilov, head of Working the Russian Federation, an open admirer of Stalin. The Communist Parties also didn’t take part in the Other the Russian Federation conference. Some human rights activists didn’t join the opposition because they believe that the conference had an ulterior political motive to propose a candidate for President elections in 2008. Valeria Novodvorskaya, prominent politician and human rights activist, also steered clear of the conference and branded the conference the “downfall” of Russian democracy. She said: “There are four organizations taking part in this congress that do not observe the Russian Constitution, the Declaration of Human Rights, or the pact of civil and political rights. These are not European-style leftists. Rather these are Stalinists and neo-Nazis. This represents the downfall of the Russian democratic movement, because the G8 leaders will draw the following conclusion: “We are right to stand behind Putin, let him control this bedlam.”
