NEWSLINK: Getting His Goat: Open criticism of Russian officials is allowed only when it is part of a plan
[Getting His Goat: Open criticism of Russian officials is allowed only when it is part of a plan – Masha Gessen – Masha Gessen is the director of Radio Liberty’s Russian Service and the author of “The Man Without a Face,” a biography of Vladimir Putin – New York Times – Dec. 10, 2012 – click here for full article]
Masha Gessen comments on Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s comment to reporters disparaging of some Russian security services. The remarsk were delivered when a press conference was concluded, but conversation continued with reporters as at least one live feed continued:
Should the prime minister have referred to Russian detectives as “goats”? It can be a derogatory term in Russian, just like that word in English that can mean either donkey or derriere.
The insult was uttered during an informal chat following Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s semi-regular, roughly annual formal interview given to representatives of several television channels at once. Since in the Medvedev-Putin division of labor the prime minister is responsible for speaking to the more liberal, better-educated, more affluent part of the public, the five interviewers included prominent liberal television journalists.
One of them, Aleksei Pivovarov, is involved in a high-profile film project that documents the Russian protest movement. By an unfortunate coincidence, detectives had shown up at the home of one of his two co-authors with a search warrant just that morning. Once the formal interview was finished, Pivovarov asked Medvedev about the search.
“Everything is going to be fine, don’t worry,” responded Medvedev. “They are goats for coming at 8 in the morning. It’s just a bad habit.” As it happened, this bit of post-interview interviewing was caught on tape – and promptly broadcast by Russia Today, an English-language television channel designed, among other things, to convince foreign audiences that Russia is a democratic country.
The relevant security services took offense at the remarks, both in an interview with Russian media and, at least for a time, on a government website:
The detectives took umbrage with the prime minister’s remarks. A spokesman for the Investigative Committee, a federal superagency created last year to pursue important cases, Vladimir Markin, told the Interfax news agency that he found it “strange to hear remarks that not only insult Investigative Committee investigators but undermine the authority of all law-enforcement agencies in the country.” Markin took care not to mention the name of the actual person who uttered the insults.
Still, the spokesman’s remarks were posted on the Investigative Committee’s Web site, prompting journalists and bloggers to wonder if the detectives were planning to demand an apology from Medvedev.