Russian state will not clamp down on dissenters, senate speaker says

(RIA Novosti – Moscow, April 1, 2015)

Russia does not intend to conduct a clampdown on the opposition as it is not threatened by a “colour revolution” no matter how hard the West tries to de-stabilize the interior situation in the country, Russian Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko has said.

“The Russian state does not intend to pursue a clampdown or to suppress dissent. As the Russian president once again stressed recently, the authorities are ready for dialogue with the opposition and will develop a partnership with the civil society,” Matviyenko said in an interview to the Soyuznoye Veche newspaper published on Tuesday [31 March].

According to Matviyenko, such a dialogue, and such partnership, are necessary. At the same time she believes that discussion with those “who work on orders from the outside, in the interests of another country, or other countries, rather than their own,” is pointless.

All public opinion polls conducted in recent years indicate that the majority of Russian citizens approve of Vladimir Putin’s performance. “In that regard, Russia is not threatened by a ‘colour revolution’,” she said.

At the same time, she said that is “not a reason to relax”. “In our country we are obliged to do (…) all we can to raise the efficiency of our law enforcement, security structures’ and special services’ work aimed at securing order, law, social and political stability,” she said.

Matviyenko added that extremism is often used today as an instrument of geopolitics, for the division of spheres of influence, to topple regimes that certain states find disagreeable by means of “colour revolutions”. “The West is attempting to organize them in Russia. Its efforts are aimed at discrediting the authority and destabilizing the interior situation in Russia, using both extremist elements and the opposition to that end,” she added.