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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

International Putin's Grip Continues to Slip

Posted by Brendan Kiley on Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 10:41 AM

From today's New York Times:

VLADIMIR, Russia — At first glance, Sergei N. Filippov seems an unlikely political provocateur.

A consummate insider, he is the chief executive of a regional affiliate of the government-owned energy giant, Gazprom, here in this ancient town. And he is an influential local member of Russia’s ruling party, United Russia.

But there he was at the latest session of the Vladimir Region legislature last week, disrupting scheduled debates on forest fire prevention and a transportation tax, to make an appeal to his fellow party members: acknowledge and repair the fraud that many people here believe United Russia committed in recent parliamentary elections.

“These violations must be documented,” said Mr. Filippov, who has worked in the regional government for about 15 years. “We cannot be silent about this. We will be doing a disservice if we fail to speak up today.”

Putin's enemies and detractors have a habit of ending up dead—may your guardian angels be on full-time duty, Mr. Filippov.

And, if you're curious, here is an opposition Facebook group.

Comments (3) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

I can't wait for the staged photo-op outside parliament, w/ tanks and the hand-picked successor shouting for 'freedom' & 'democracy.'

Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In on December 28, 2011 at 10:56 AM

The Facebook group you link to is NOT an opposition group. It's the group of those in the party of power (United Russia) who are for honest elections. Big difference.

Posted by gavastik