Russian opposition figures deny attending subversive seminar abroad

(Interfax – Dec. 11, 2012) Sources for Russian opposition activists being questioned about an alleged plot to incite mass disorder have denied that they went to Lithuania to be taught how to seize power, Interfax news agency reported on 11 December (see “Russian investigators question new witnesses in coup plot case”, published by BBC Monitoring on 11 December).

The whole case is “ludicrous”, according to a statement issued by the unregistered 5 December Party. One of its members, Yuriy Nabutovskiy, had his home searched and was called in for questioning as part of the probe following the “Anatomy of a Protest – 2” programme on the NTV television channel, which alleged that a Georgian politician had been illegally financing some Russian opposition figures including Sergey Udaltsov.

The Investigations Committee has accused several opposition activists of travelling to Lithuania in spring this year “to attend a seminar on the seizure of power along the lines of the ‘colour revolutions’ that took place earlier in other countries”, Interfax said. The Committee named Taisiya Aleksandrova, Anna Kornilova and Nabutovskiy in this connection.

But the seminar was actually about OSCE-approved methods of observing elections, the 5 December Party statement said.

The lawyer for Leonid Razvozzhayev, another of the opposition activists under investigation, condemned the authorities’ actions. “This would be simply absurd and laughable if it weren’t for the fact that there are people in prison,” Dmitriy Agranovskiy told Interfax. “We’re being gagged and made to sign non-disclosure agreements, so we can’t tell the truth while the Investigations Committee puts out its own information.”

There was nothing wrong with Russian citizens attending events or seminars abroad, he added: “It’s not a crime.”

Udaltsov was similarly dismissive, describing the Committee’s latest public statements as “an attempt to fill out the criminal case with various episodes and add various other accusations that have nothing to do with preparing public disorder”. They are “entirely unsubstantiated and intended to blacken my name and those of my comrades”, he added.

According to the Investigations Committee, the searches resulted in the removal of electronic media containing information on overturning the authorities and also other items and documents relevant to the criminal case, Interfax said.