Page 19 - bne_newspaper_March_31_2017

Opinion
March 31, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 19
level, the system they operate within is itself designed to abuse virtually anyone who comes
in contact with it and is not privileged enough to make agents of the state think twice about their own aggression. This is precisely the reason why a shocking 99% of Russian criminal defendants are convicted; if the state comes after you, you are guilty by default.
A system designed for abuse and facing zero ac- countability is bound to escalate the abuse. Pro- tests are the perfect trigger for escalation – espe- cially because Putin remains widely popular and officials acting in his name will therefore feel legiti- mised to use any measures to stamp out dissent.
Blood in the streets seems like a hysterical and outlandish scenario for either Moscow or St Pe- tersburg, but of course things are different else- where in the country. Consider the case of the terrifying Kushchyovskaya massacre – and how it ultimately revealed local officials’ disregard for, and even approval of, the violent methods of a lo- cal criminal gang.
The people murdered in Kushchyovskaya weren’t protesters – they were members of a family of farmers, and those unlucky enough to have been their guests. Even as the case shocked and out- raged Russia, the investigation revealed that local elected officials had all but “blended” with local criminal structures, and random acts of terror in the countryside have been building up to a crescen- do for many years. As experts pointed out at the time, Kushchyovskaya wasn’t at all unique when
it came to the peculiar way in which government personnel and gangs are almost indistinguishable from one another in some parts of the country.
State television has meanwhile worked hard to delegitimise protest and demonise those who take part in it. Instability in Ukraine is routinely trotted out as an example of what protesters “really hope to achieve”.
The argument in favour of stability helped mar- ginalise earlier mass protests that took place in
Russia around the time that Putin was elected for a third non-consecutive term as president. “We don’t want any new turmoil!” read the placards of mostly older people who turned up to pro-Putin counter-protests at the time.
Since then, oil prices have taken a nosedive, the ruble devalued, Russia annexed Crimea and kicked off a shadow war in east Ukraine, while also getting involved in the conflict in Syria and being subjected to sanctions. Government budg- ets were cut, suspicion and aggression and the image of a Russia surrounded by vicious enemies were promoted on television, and a prominent dis- sident, Boris Nemtsov, was gunned down in view of the Kremlin.
Turmoil arrived anyway. And with it clearly came the sense that nowadays, an individual Russian has less to lose than before.
CHANGES ARE GOOD
YOUR BUSINESS PARTNER. www.rbinternational.com