RIA Novosti: “Protests on the rise in Russia – study”

Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(RIA Novosti – Moscow, November 2, 2015)

Protest activity in Russia in the first six months of this year increased by 15 per cent compared with the same period last year, according to a study by the Civil Initiatives Committee [founded by former Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin].

The assessment of protest activity was based on reports in the media and by new agencies about public protests (rallies, marches, pickets, assemblies, strikes, hunger strikes etc.). The aim of monitoring is to identify regions in the high-risk group based on the combination of socio-economic and political factors. The study’s aggregate mark for a region is obtained by adding together the marks in each category.

“In the first half of 2015, recorded protest activity was 15 per cent up on the same period in 2014,” says the report presented on Monday [2 November] by the political scientist and Civil Initiatives Committee expert Aleksandr Kynev.

The list of regions with high protest activity in 2014-2015 remains stable and includes Moscow, St Petersburg, Novosibirsk Region, Irkutsk Region, Krasnodar Territory, Bashkortostan and Dagestan.

In that period, the share of domestic political issues has increased (from 15.7 per cent in the first half of the year to 19.6 per cent in the second half), that of foreign policy ones dropped sharply (1.6 per cent in the first half of 2015 against 9.8 per cent in the second half [of 2014], including the Ukrainian conflict), while the share of social issues and urban environment problems remained high (19.3 per cent and 17.9 per cent respectively in the second half of 2015).

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