Russian opposition figure pleased with year’s work, vows to continue protest

(Interfax – Moscow, 4 December) Left Front coordinator Sergey Udaltsov is satisfied with the results of the year that has passed since the start of active protests and believes in dialogue with the authorities on issues of political and social reform in the country. (Passage omitted: disputed 4 December 2011 parliamentary election led to mass public protests)

“It will be very difficult to have dialogue with the authorities. It will only be possible if we are extremely mobilized, retain our activity and unity. I would say that a year ago we had to sprint, now we have to run a marathon,” Udaltsov told Interfax on Tuesday (4 December).

He stated, with regret, that in the year since the start of the active protest movement the authorities “have not engaged in talks with the opposition”. “A powerful repressive campaign is being waged – people have been put in custody; they are facing serious jail terms. This is not the opposition’s fault; it is the authorities’ fault,” he said.

Discussing the protest movement’s mistakes, he noted “certain naivety among some opposition figures during the initial phase of the protests”.

“There was no persistence or healthy, civilized radicalism. It was necessary to continue pressing between the parliamentary and presidential elections (4 December 2011 and 4 March 2012 respectively), when the authorities reacted with irritation to every rally – (it was necessary to) stay in squares, organize pickets. However, people expected that everything would come easily, through a couple of rallies,” said Udaltsov.

Discussing the prospects of the opposition movement, he said that he did not see “a trend towards the protest dying out, because systemic, political and economic problems are not being dealt with in the country, there remains ground for dissatisfaction”.

“The main thing now is to skilfully use all the methods of fighting for our rights and freedoms. One should not focus on street rallies alone, but one should not forget about them either,” said the opposition figure.

He said of the past year that overall “he would describe it as a productive, positive one for civic society, for the civic movement and the opposition in particular”. “Over the past year, we have in many ways managed to change the country and make the authorities to carry out serious reforms that they would not have done had it not been for us,” said Udaltsov.

He recalled that in the course of the year “legislation has been passed about direct election of governors, simplification of the procedure for the creation of political parties; the introduction of elected senators is being discussed”.

“At present, the latest corruption scandals cannot be described as the authorities’ strategy to fight corruption, but it (what they are doing) too undoubtedly is a forced response to our activity, because the authorities understand: if they do not offer anything to society in response to its dissatisfaction there will be a social explosion,” said the opposition figure.

He however described the passed reforms as incomplete. “We therefore continue our protest,” said Udaltsov.

In his words, “a very important factor is the preservation of unity of various opposition forces”. “Separately, no political force, be it leftists, liberals or nationalists, is capable of exerting genuine pressure on the authorities”, said the Left Front activist.