Kasparov, the subject of a new documentary premiering at the festival, spoke passionately about declining press freedoms and a targeted Kremlin campaign to keep the Russian public in the dark. The latest example came in the form of a state order for journalists to stay silent on the economic crisis sweeping Russia, and quit “spreading rumors of panic.”

After the discussion, which flared into a bright exchange between Kasparov and IDFA chairman Derk Sauer, Kasparov sat in on the premier of a new film titled “In the Holy Fire of Revolution.” Directed by Masha Novikova, the film follows the protest movement against former President Vladimir Putin and Russian authorities over two years. Chronicling the constant struggle faced by the Russian opposition, the documentary then follows Kasparov’s 2008 presidential campaign as new barriers are thrown in its way. Opposition figures are intimidated and arrested, pro-Kremlin Nashi youth meet and taunt activists at every turn, and pressure comes in from all sides.

As result of the growing pressure and intimidation, Kasparov was ultimately forced to drop his presidential bid.

While it is unlikely that the film will be shown widely in Russia, Novikova plans to screen it at International festivals in the country and at the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Civil Center. She is also submitting it to the Tbilisi, Georgia Festival in December.

“Now is a very good moment for Georgian people to see that, in Russia, we are also against the Kremlin”, Novikova said Saturday. “We [in Russia] have had one hundred years when we were friends [with Georgia]. It cannot be that politics can make enemies of us.”

As the Sobkor®ru news agency reports, Kasparov spoke before a gathering of international news industry leaders, and described the “mythology of the Putin regime.” He called the group to stand up to infractions against press freedom in Russia.

After the speech, Yevgeny Abov, the representative of the Russian delegation, renounced Kasparov’s remarks, and said that the press agency he represented at the forum, RIA Novosti, was completely free. Abov said that RIA, which is state-run, frequently publishes information about the Russian opposition.

Kasparov then asked Abov if RIA Novosti was prepared to provide him with space for a press-conference.

Abov answered in the affirmative, promising that space would be made available for Kasparov. At that point, another member of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Sungorkin stepped in. Sungorkin, the editor-in-chief of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper was doubtful: “Kasparov is a special case”, he said “as he works with the banned National-Bolsheviks, which is why I’m not sure that he would be allowed in RIA.”

The discussion’s moderator, the deputy editor-in-chief of the Spanish El Pais newspaper, then responded in his own right: “I grew up in the days of the Franco dictatorship, and we were all ‘special cases.’”

Speaking with Sobkor®ru, Kasparov said he would try to use RIA Novosti facilities to hold a press conference in the near future.

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Video of the event, courtesy of the World Editors Forum:

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Participants of the World Newspaper Congress also discussed the danger journalists face in Russia. According to Rodney Pinder, of the International News Safety Institute, Russia has emerged as the world’s second most dangerous country for journalists, trailing only Iraq.

“And we don’t know of a single successful conviction in Russia,” he told The Associated Press. “And convictions are what are needed to protect journalists.”

Garry Kasparov has frequently said that media freedom has been crushed under former President Vladimir Putin, who is now Russia’s prime minister.

The latest evidence to back his statements comes from a New York Times report on self-censorship in another medium–television. As the Times writes, Russian TV channels keep a so-called “stop list” of figures who must not appear on the airwaves.

One economist critical of the Kremlin, Mikhail Delyagin, was apparently given an appearance by mistake on a popular talk show. Before “The People Want to Know” program aired, Delyagin was digitally removed from the tape.

The show’s host, Kira Proshutinskaya, said she was embarrassed over this and other incidents, and admitted that networks are constantly intimidated by the Kremlin.

“I would be lying if I said that it is easy to work these days,” she told the Times. “The leadership of the channels, because of their great fear of losing their jobs — they are very lucrative positions — they overdo everything.”

“After the disgraceful farce of the ‘elections,’ Medvedev, Putin and Zubkov went to celebrate their victory over Russia,” Kasparov told the crowd. “It’s up to us when this Sabbath, which threatens Russia, will end.”

In Moscow, where authorities refused to grant a permit of assembly, dozens were arrested as police rushed the crowd with batons. Nikita Belykh, the leader of the Union of Right Forces Party, was carried off by camouflaged OMON Special Forces troops. Lev Ponomarev, the chairman of the “For Human Rights” movement, and Denis Bilunov, the executive director of the United Civil Front were also among those arrested.

Participants expressed outrage at the March 2nd presidential election, and what they see as a growing authoritarianism on the part of the Kremlin. Dmitri Medvedev, the chosen successor to President Vladimir Putin, easily took the contest, even as members of the opposition were prevented from appearing on the ballot. Limonov called the election an “abominable swindle.”

The protesters carried signs reading “We Need Another Russia!” and “Down With the Police State!” Some brought whistles and large banners, and other lit flares.

Both demonstrations were met by hordes of armed riot police.

Novikov explained how he first penetrated the OGF, the political party led by Garry Kasparov that has been outspoken in its criticism of the Putin administration. The FSB concocted a cover story that Novikov was planning to form an independent union of health workers. According to Novikov, he signed a contract with the agency whereby he was paid eight thousand rubles (€221 or $325) per month for collecting information on the party.

Novikov’s handlers were primarily interested in the relationships between members of the movement, and wanted to know who was closest to the leadership.

Allegedly, the information Novikov divulged prevented Garry Kasparov from registering as a presidential candidate. By Russian law, at least 500 supporters must gather to jump-start a presidential campaign, and an appropriate venue is required.

Yet the first conference room Kasparov had rented refused to host his “initiative group,” and the OGF scrambled to find another space to announce Kasparov’s candidacy.

Novikov said he reported each location that the OGF was considering to his supervisors. In the end, Kasparov could not find a space willing to host his meeting, and subsequently dropped his presidential bid.

Meanwhile, Russian law forbids planting agents into organizations that are not banned on Russian territory. According to the law on “Operational Investigation Activity” of 1995, this includes political parties, civil and religious groups, and other organizations that are officially registered.

Roman Dobrokhotov, the leader of the “We” movement, told the Sobkor®ru news agency that he could not remember one political action that Novikov did not participate in. He added that it seemed strange that an FSB agent would “shine” so much at the events. Still, Dobrokhotov noted that Novikov’s announcement comes as little surprise, and he is convinced that there are other undercover intelligence officers among Russia’s opposition groups. In Dobrokhotov’s opinion, Novikov likely confessed to his role in the FSB after he began genuinely sympathizing with the opposition.

Alternate spelling: Aleksandr Novikov

The reason for the claim is a leaflet distributed by Nashi at a series of its events and gatherings. The pamphlet describes the opposition leader as “a citizen of the United States,” and asserts that objective of the Russian opposition is “to ransack Russia’s national wealth in the interests of the USA.”

Garry Kasparov intends to recover and defend his honor, dignity, as well as business reputation, and is seeking 30 million rubles (€834 thousand or $1.22 million) as compensation for moral damages.

Kasparov has repeatedly denied claims that he holds citizenship in any country outside Russia. Such information has been disseminated widely in the pro-Kremlin organizations and the mass media.

The Nashi movement has led a campaign against the Russian opposition from its inception, and has used various means, including violence, to disrupt opposition events. As was reported in late January, the group will be reorganized, and trimmed down, which has led many analysts to believe the organization has outlived its usefulness to the Kremlin.

“The last opposition candidate for the March 2 Russian elections has just been forced out of the running by the Kremlin. President Putin’s handpicked successor Dmitry Medvedev has no competition. So-called engagement during the Bush years has only made the situation worse as Putin has turned my country into a police state. Hillary Clinton said recently that Putin “has no soul” and Mitt Romney referred to Putin as a dictator. John McCain has been outspoken in support of Russia’s democratic opposition. So the question is, will you pledge that as president you will work to remove un-democratic Russia from the G-8 league of great industrial democracies? Or will you continue to provide a dictator with democratic credentials?”

Garry Kasparov
Co-chair, The Other Russia pro-democracy coalition
Moscow

For more information on the US Presidential debates, visit CNN.

Nemtsov named the key players in the new organization: the SPS, the Yabloko party, Mikhail Kasyanov’s People’s Democratic Union, the United Civil Front with leader Garry Kasparov, as well as Vladimir Ryzhkov, an independent politician. Lev Ponomarev, head of the For Human Rights NGO, told Interfax that he may also join the movement, and that he is currently engaged in consultations and negotiations.

“It’s too early to speak of any details,” Ponomarev said. “But I can say that it will be a liberal democratic movement with regional branches.”

Lyudmila Alekseyeva, head of the Moscow-Helsinki Group and another veteran of Russia’s Human Rights movement is not planning to take part. The executive director of the United Civil Front confirmed that party’s participation in negotiations.

On December 10th, 2007, Kasparov and Ryzhkov issued a joint statement where they revealed the idea for a new, broad-based and democratic opposition political party. At the time, Kasparov noted that since the Yabloko and SPS brands aren’t working, the question isn’t about uniting these parties, but about forming a new one.

NEW YORK — When Time Magazine chose Russia’s Vladimir Putin as its Man of the Year, a lot of folks were outraged.

Time answered back that their pick wasn’t an endorsement of Putin. After all, they chose Adolf Hitler as Man of the Year in 1938, even though they were appalled by what he was doing. But Hitler used Time’s designation as an endorsement, propagandizing that it elevated his status as a statesman.

And according to Garry Kasparov, Putin’s doing the same thing. The Kremlin’s ad men are using the Time cover at home to portray Putin as a class act.

That got us thinking. Why didn’t Time put Garry Kasparov on the cover as Man of the Year?

Kasparov’s battle with Putin is the kind of David and Goliath story that Time used to love. Kasparov is a former world chess champion who could easily sit back with his millions, living the lush life in Paris or New York. Instead, he puts his freedom and his life on the line, fighting against a former KGB bully, who uses the full force of a powerful state to crush all competition.

Now we admit we’re biased, because we know and like Kasparov. And we also recognize that one guy trying to reform a state like Russia is the long shot of all time.

But because Scoreboard loves long shots and genuine class acts, we pick Garry Kasparov over Vladimir Putin as our Man of the Year.

The Year In Review: Whispering, We’ll Survive
December 27th, 2007
Natella Boltyanskaya
Yezhednevny Zhurnal

If we speak about feelings on the departing 2007 year, then for me they are such. Authority that’s shameful. Shameful for cynicism and pettiness, impudence and lies. Further still, the tendency to take revenge upon everyone deemed persona non grata is, in my opinion, categorical. Just don’t try to sing a song of “Oh, what a bad person … is.” There could be any name there. Bukovsky… Kasparov… Storchak… Khodorkovsky… Chervochkin… Gozman… Litvinenko… Arap… Anyone can compose this list at their own discretion; this list could be of any length.

I’ll recall the principle of lawfulness once more – you must be judged and condemned not based on who is extremely unsympathetic toward you, but for what you’ve done and only what you’ve done. No one doubts that the government is stronger than each of its citizens. Well, then – it’s indecent when the government demonstrates this to a specific person using the arms of its employees: look what we can do to you. The question isn’t about lawful retaliation for breaking such-and-such a law, but about the decision, taken at the top (where no one will ever say, even though everyone understands, that we’ve built a vertical [chain of command]). And the essence of the decision – we’ll detain, cripple, jail, kill you. Because we can do this. We can send over an instigator to a person, carrying out their civic right to a solitary picket. [Under Russian law, one person can demonstrate anywhere at any time without a permit, but an unregistered group of two or more can be shut down and arrested.] And this instigator will, without hesitation, explain why he’s been sent there.

Shameful for these authorities so much so, that enough about them already. Better yet, let’s talk about the society. About a certain number of people united under one nationality. And not about the mythical numbers of “encouragers” and “approvers”. So then, this certain number of people could be displeased with what’s happening in the country at the present moment. And it completely doesn’t mean that they’re enemies. They simply don’t agree. Like the pensioners, who once went into the streets didn’t agree, being against the monetization of their benefits. Thank God, that then we managed without clubs. Currently, the situation has reached a stalemate. The Russian citizen doesn’t have space to express her disagreement. You cannot vote differently, as everything was counted up long before your vote… Incidentally, this is about the authorities again by now, of which we’re shameful.

So then voting – doesn’t work. And all the other means of expressing disagreement [or dissent] can be equated with extremism or crushed without explanation in any way that’s commanded. An opposition organization doesn’t have space in a city of many millions, where any place with a room and more than 100 seats can be had by just about anyone for money? To what extent must these authorities sh.., excuse me, soil themselves, in front of the opposition, to deal with the dissenters in such a way?

Furthermore, my dear little bears and cubs, including the polar and koalas, help me understand: If the same number of OMON [Special Forces] simply preserved order at such a demonstration, and didn’t suppress it, what would be so terrifying about that? One gets the impression that these guys are instigating bloodshed themselves, considering that in the present day, the steam release valve is being shut time and time again. How much do you need to fear [Natalya] Morar, a journalist, to deport her by secret decree from the country (see above – to take revenge anyone deemed persona non grata). If there are so few of these dissenters [as the authorities claim], they why are they so pressured? Kasparov won’t muster the votes for the presidency? The let him lead an assembly and register his candidacy fairly. And since you won’t give him the chance to do it, does it mean you’re afraid he will gather [the votes]? There has not, is not, and won’t be an answer. It’s not the tsarist practice to give answers. It’s not a tsarist practice to obey the law. To hell with them, I’m talking about you and me! Almost every one of us is given the illusory opportunity to close up in our shells, turn off the damn idiot box and… earn money (as much as they permit), read books, run about the internet, as long as it isn’t fixed…

And if your apartment is robbed, then don’t go looking for justice, because the militsiya is catching dissenters, and it’s not up to catching thieves. And if a civil servant’s son or brother runs down your relative – forget it, there won’t be justice. Your place, citizens, is the state of a hedgehog that’s being threatened. Roll up into a ball, gather up everything you can within yourself, and lie there quietly. Don’t spring up! I personally know many people, who completely don’t like Garry Kimovich [Kasparov], but who go to these Dissenters’ Marches, because there is no such law to “not spring up.”

[…]

It’s time to make sense of the situation and take a constructive decision – all of us. Otherwise, we’ll be crushed one at a time.

I understand, that’s it’s easy for me to appeal for constructiveness to those, who have probably thought about it on their own. But there isn’t another way out. The direction that the whole country is moving in is abominable. And the society is starting to understand. Late, because a system of repression is already up and running. But it’s starting, as it should. True, you and I may not live to see those days, when this oil and imperial-hubris inflated bubble pops… But the borders are still open… And if you don’t like it, get out… But why does one need to leave from their country – their native land, you say?

Because you have been designated an enemy from the very highest rostrum. But what if they made a mistake at this rostrum? But they couldn’t be mistaken, since oil prices are out of this world. And when they collapse, the dissenters won’t be beaten to death one by one, as was Chervochkin, the National Bolshevik [activist]. By then [the authorities] will be giving the order to shoot them in public gathering sports. Is that what you’re waiting for? You think that there will be enough satiety during your time? You are wrong – it’s for THEIR time that there will be enough satiety, they aren’t thinking about you. You should be thinking of yourself, since the law can (theoretically) protect you – us. But they will now be making whatever laws they need… And here I am, not talking about the authorities again, for whom I’m yet again ashamed. This is about you and I, who likely had our last hurrah when NTV was shut down… And continue to have it every time that someone is killed, and we are quiet, such and such was thrown in the nuthouse, and we have our step-mother’s anniversary… Of course, perhaps those arrested, crippled, killed, and disappeared without a trace don’t worry us… The trouble is that every one of us is next in line. Just by chance walking down the street.

Today we are seeing a systematic and practically daily violation of the fundamental law of the Russian Federation. This law is being broken, as I understand it, with full backing and permission of the guarantor. Because if the guarantee is real, and not phony, it must punish and demonstrate what happens to transgressors at the first violation. But if the punishment and browbeating hasn’t happened even once, then it means that any law relating to you could be broken. Likely, it can be suffered if you take on the attitude of the hero in “The Suicide,” the [Nikolai] Erdman stage play: “God perish the thought. Do you really think we’re doing something against the revolution? We haven’t done a thing since the day it started. All we do is visit one another and talk about how hard life is. Because life is easier when we can say life is hard. For God’s sake, don’t deprive us of our last means of survival. Let us say that life is hard. Let us say it in a whisper, “Life is hard.” Comrades, I implore you on behalf of millions of people: Give us the right to whisper. You’ll be so busy constructing a new life that you’ll never even hear us. I guarantee it. We’ll live out our entire lives in a whisper.” (The play was written at the end of the 1920s.)

Translated by theotherrussia.org.

Man of the Year?

By GARRY KASPAROV — December 22, 2007; Page A11

Ever since President Vladimir Putin took office eight long years ago, the political and media leadership of the West have had a full-time job trying to look on the bright side of Russia’s rapid turn from democracy.

The free press has been demolished, elections are canceled and rigged, and then we hear how popular Mr. Putin is. Opposition marches are crushed, and we’re told — over and over — how much better off we are today than in the days of the Soviet Union. This week Time magazine named Mr. Putin its 2007 “Person of the Year.” [Vladimir Putin] Vladimir Putin

Unfortunately, there is no silver lining to Russia’s descent into dictatorship. If anything there is a look of iron to it.

Condoleezza Rice, hardly a Putin critic, said recently that Russia “is not an environment in which you can talk about free and fair elections.” A good start, but this comment was not made where one would imagine — perhaps at a press conference insisting that Putin’s Russia be removed from the G-7 for making a mockery of democratic practices. No, her remark came as a side note to her very early endorsement of Mr. Putin’s handpicked heir to the throne, Dmitry Medvedev.

The most revealing moment in Ms. Rice’s comments came when the topic of Mr. Medvedev as the next president was first broached. The official transcript reads: “SECRETARY RICE: Well, I guess, they’re still going to have an election in March. <Laughter.>”

Perhaps my sense of humor was dulled during the five days I spent in a Moscow jail last month for protesting against these sham elections. Or maybe it was reading about the constant persecution of my fellow activists across the country that did it. Madam Secretary went on to speak approvingly of Mr. Medvedev, making the undemocratic nature of his selection sound like a minor annoyance. The last remaining element of democracy in Russia, the transition of power, will be destroyed. Will Mr. Putin and his successor still be welcomed with open arms in the club of leading democracies?

In the early days of our opposition activities last year, when members of Other Russia were harassed and arrested, the “bright siders” in the West said it could be worse. Later, when our marchers were badly beaten in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Mr. Putin’s fans in the West said at least the police weren’t killing us in the streets.

Last week, 22-year-old opposition activist Yury Chervochkin died in hospital after several weeks in a coma. He had been beaten nearly to death an hour after making an anxious cellphone call to our offices saying he was being followed by members of the organized-crime task force known as UBOP, which has become the vanguard of the Kremlin’s war on political opposition. A witness saw him clubbed repeatedly by men with baseball bats.

Yury’s sin was not chanting Nazi slogans or praising the deeds of Josef Stalin, activities that regularly go unremarked in Russia these days. No, he had been caught throwing leaflets that read “The elections are a farce!” That was enough to make him a marked man. Now, for agitating for real democracy in Russia, he is dead.

The stakes have been raised to the highest level, and what bright side will be found now? Where is the line that cannot be crossed without a serious response from the West? So far Mr. Putin hasn’t found it — and he has good reason to suspect such a line simply does not exist. It is for the leaders in Washington, D.C., Paris and Berlin to decide what it means to denounce the Russian elections as fraudulent, only to then embrace the winners as democratic partners.

Lesser tragedies than that of Yury Chervochkin are occurring on a regular basis in Russia today. Last week journalist Natalya Morar was denied entry into the country on secret orders of the FSB security force, after writing investigative articles on financial deals with Kremlin connections. Lyudmila Kharlamova, a political organizer for Other Russia, was arrested after heroin was planted among her possessions in Orenburg. Activist Andrei Grekhov suffered a similar fate in Rostov, though the police chose to plant bullets instead of drugs in his pockets.

This is a good opportunity to remember Anna Politkovskaya, the investigative journalist who was murdered on Oct. 7, 2006, Putin’s birthday. The police investigation into this infamous assassination has stalled and talk of it has died down. The Kremlin is counting on the same thing happening with “minor” cases like that of Yury Chervochkin.

In a recent speech, Mr. Putin said “the enemies of the state must be wiped out!” It has been made quite clear that by “enemies” he means anyone who opposes his total authority. It is no surprise that his words are taken at face value across the country, and acted on by security forces eager to prove their loyalty and enthusiasm.

The presidents and prime ministers of the West seem just as eager to bow down to the Kremlin and the great god of business as usual. Nicolas Sarkozy raced to congratulate Mr. Putin on his party’s election victory, despite the overwhelming evidence of massive fraud at the polls. A few days later France’s Renault picked up a 25% share in Russian automaker AvtoVaz, a purchase made from Sergei Chemezov and his arms-dealing company Rosoboronexport. Why should Mr. Putin and his oligarchs worry about democracy as long as the money keeps rolling in?

Time magazine, of course, took obvious pains to explain that its award to Mr. Putin is “not an endorsement” and that it goes to the person who made the most news “for better or for worse.” Nonetheless the article praises Mr. Putin for restoring his country to prominence in the international arena, dispelling “anarchy” and recovering national pride. The magazine does express concern about his “troubling” record on human rights.

The same things could have been said about Adolf Hitler in 1938, when he took his turn as Time’s Man of the Year. “Fascism,” Time wrote then, “has discovered that freedom — of press, speech, assembly — is a potential danger to its own security.” Again these words apply equally well to this year’s winner.

Most of the criticism leveled against Mr. Putin regards “alleged” abuses or comes directly from known critics. This abdicates the journalist’s role to report the facts as facts.

Consider the timing of this announcement, right after the counterfeit parliamentary elections that added to Mr. Putin’s record of eradicating democracy across Russia. The Time article will be trumpeted by Kremlin propaganda as an endorsement of Mr. Putin’s policies. The man on the street will be told that even America, constantly blasted by the Kremlin as an enemy, has been forced to recognize the president’s greatness.

Internationally, the focus will be on the myth that Mr. Putin has built a “strong Russia.” In fact he and his cronies have hollowed out the state from within. Most of the power now resides in the super-corporations like Gazprom and Rosneft, and among the small group of loyalists who run them.

The Putin regime has taken Russia from a frail democracy to an efficient mafia state. It was an impressive balancing act — behaving like a tyrant while at the same time staying in the good graces of the West.

After each crackdown, with no significant international reaction forthcoming, Mr. Putin knew it was safe to take another step. As ever, appeasement in the name of realpolitik only encourages would-be dictators. And such moral weakness inevitably leads to very real costs in human life.

Mr. Kasparov is a former world chess champion and a leader of The Other Russia, a pro-democracy coalition. He is the author of “How Life Imitates Chess,” recently published by Bloomsbury USA.