Putin bars opposition protesters

Russia sent a signal of open defiance to the West on May 18 by arresting several leading opposition figures and detaining Western journalists as they attempted to fly to a critical European Union (EU)-Russia summit. Police detained Garry Kasparov–the former world chess champion and a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin–as he tried to board a flight from Moscow to the southern city of Samara. Kasparov was due to lead a demonstration by a coalition of anti-Kremlin groups called The Other Russia. They were protesting on the margins of the summit, hosted by Putin, and attended by Angela Merkel and other EU leaders. The German chancellor immediately voiced her concern that the Russian authorities were blatantly attempting to restrict freedom of speech. "I am concerned about some people having problems in traveling here. I hope they will be given an opportunity to express their opinion," she said at a post-summit news conference. Merkel's remark came amid a fractious exchange between Putin and EU leaders at the news conference over democratic freedoms and the government's treatment of critics–two of the many issues haunting EU-Russian relations. Putin dismissed Kasparov and his colleagues as "marginals"–and said EU countries also had flaws in their democracy. "What is pure democracy?" Putin asked. "It is a question of… whether you want to see the glass half full or half empty." Kasparov's detention came at Sheremetyevo airport, near Moscow, as he checked in to fly to Samara. Arriving at the Aeroflot desk he was confronted by police officers who examined and took away his passport. "This normally takes 20 seconds," Kasparov said in an interview. But they didn't come back. Nor did his passport. Police instead detained Kasparov and Eduard Limonov, another opposition leader, for five hours until the last Samara-bound plane had gone. They also refused to allow Western journalists who booked tickets through Kasparov's United Civil Front movement to get on the plane, including the correspondents of the Daily Telegraph and the Wall Street Journal and a Dutch TV crew. The plane took off 50 minutes late, without Kasparov, and with 50 empty seats. "Russia is not a democratic state," Kasparov said. "It is an authoritarian regime. Putin is not a democrat." What, then, was his message to the EU as it grappled with an increasingly assertive and belligerent Kremlin? "They need to address this issue," he said. "It's absurd that as a Russian citizen with a good biography I'm not allowed to travel." The demonstrations were the latest in a series of opposition protests in advance of parliamentary elections in December and a presidential poll next March, when Putin steps down. Kasparov said that attempts by the Kremlin to stop protests breached Russia's constitution. Russia was obliged under international law to allow freedom of assembly, he said. "We have no access to TV or parliament. The only way for the opposition to protest is through non-violent demonstration," he complained. Kasparov and his supporters were left marooned next to the airport's Irish pub. Before the rally, police arrested several pro-democracy activists in Samara and raided the offices of the liberal Novaya Gazeta newspaper. On May 17, they detained the deputy director of Human Rights Watch in Moscow, as well as Kasparov's deputy. With all major leaders arrested, only around 300 demonstrators marched through the center of Samara, watched by police officers. They shouted: "We need another Russia!" and "Down with KGB spies!" Putin continues to enjoy popular support in Russia–with polls putting his personal approval ratings at around 55 percent.