The other day, a man fell out of a fourth-floor Moscow apartment and suffered serious head injuries. The real surprise is not that Nikolai Gorokhov had an accident but that he survived. People who dare to challenge Russian President Vladimir
The other day, a man fell out of a fourth-floor Moscow apartment and suffered serious head injuries. The real surprise is not that Nikolai Gorokhov had an accident but that he survived. People who dare to challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin often don’t. Gorokhov’s fall came just a day before he was to appear in court on behalf of the family of Sergei Magnitsky — who died in a Russian prison cell where he languished after, yes, daring to challenge Putin.
Two days after Gorokhov’s hard landing, a former Russian parliamentarian was shot to death in broad daylight in Kiev. It might not surprise you to learn that Denis Voronenkov defected to Ukraine last year, criticized Putin’s seizure of Crimea and was planning to testify in a corruption case against a Putin ally. “This was the demonstrative murder of a witness, common for the Kremlin,” charged Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Yuri Lutsenko.
Episodes such as these are not rare: The Washington Post counted 10 Putin critics who met sudden ends, often in mysterious or violent circumstances. The deaths make it appear someone wants to deter people from speaking out against the corruption, repression and brutality of the Russian president. They send the message that no dissenter is safe.
But on Sunday, Putin learned that some people are not easily cowed. In more than 90 cities, marchers turned out to protest corruption, with particular regard to Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev. He was the subject of an incriminating video put out by Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption crusader who said he will run against Putin in 2018. “Shame!” some protesters chanted.
A Moscow radio station estimated more than 60,000 Russians took part in the demonstrations. In any case, they were reported to be the biggest unauthorized rallies in five years. Stiff sentences given to many protesters back then discouraged dissent. But the revelations about Medvedev stirred new outrage that soon erupted into the streets.
This is not the only cause for Putin to worry. Hobbled by international sanctions, the economy is limping. Truckers also are planning a campaign of protests against new highway tolls.
These marches were notable for the large number of young people, who might have yet to absorb the full danger of defying the regime. Hundreds of protesters were arrested, others were beaten and Navalny got a 15-day sentence for supposedly resisting arrest.
The West can’t prevent Putin from dealing harshly with critics, but it can let him know his abuses won’t be ignored or excused. In light of President Donald Trump’s friendly attitude toward the Kremlin, it was a pleasant surprise to hear the U.S. State Department issue a statement condemning the mass arrests.
Maybe Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and others in the administration are willing to judge Putin on the basis of his vicious record, not on Trump’s foolish hopes. And it might be that the investigations and questions around the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russian officials left the president little room to cozy up to the Kremlin. Anything he might do to ingratiate himself with Putin would feed suspicions
Amid his growing international isolation and signs of discontent at home, Putin might hope for sympathy or a show of support from the White House. He shouldn’t get it.
— Chicago Tribune
