Andrei Pivovarov, leader of the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian People’s Democratic Union (RNDS), was convicted on September 15 of organizing an unsanctioned rally and “insubordination to the lawful demands of a police officer.” He has been ordered to pay a 2000 ruble fine (about $65) and must spend 14 days in a criminal detention facility.

The rally was part of the Russian opposition’s Strategy 31 campaign, which is dedicated to the right to free assembly guaranteed under Article 31 of the Russian constitution. Pivovarov was among organizers of an August 31 rally at St. Petersburg’s Gostiny Dvor, attended by about 700 people. Several dozen rally participants were detained, including Pivovarov and other prominent local opposition leaders.

Pivovarov and the RNDS are planning to appeal both of Wednesday’s convictions. The organization began holding a series of protests outside of Pivovarov’s detention facility that same day.

The RNDS is convinced that Pivovarov’s sentence “was not based on the law” and is an attempt by the authorities to frighten the opposition.

“In my view, this is an extremely inappropriate measure,” said Olga Kurnosova, head of the St. Petersburg branch of the United Civil Front. “I’ve already said multiple times that I don’t understand in general why they detain people at Gostiny Dvor. Nothing happens there that violates the public order.”

Activists participating in Strategy 31 rallies throughout Russia are routinely beaten and detained by the dozens.

“This measure is an act of intimidation,” Kurnosova concluded.

People’s Democratic Union (RNDS) representative Yelena Dikun told Gazeta.ru that the former prime minister, who became an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin after being dismissed by the then-President in 2004, said that Yabloko has responded with “fundamental agreement” to his proposal to create a political coalition. Kasyanov had said earlier that the goal of such a coalition would be to present a unified list of candidates from the democratic opposition to run in the 2011 parliamentary elections.

“The RNDS and Yabloko are now working on coordinating a joint political statement,” said Dikun, without commenting further on details of the negotiations.

Yabloko’s leadership, however, immediately denied the announcement. “I refute the idea that we’ve given our agreement; there wasn’t any,” party leader Sergei Mitrokhin told Gazeta.ru. “There’s an appeal from Mikhail Kasyanov, and we haven’t refused to discuss it. There’s an ongoing electronic correspondence, I have all the letters saved – why Kasyanov took it as a “fundamental agreement” to create a coalition, I don’t know.”

Mitrokhin stressed that creating a political coalition was a gradual process: “It’s not possible to race through this – that would bring about something frivolous,” he said.

The Yabloko leader did say that such a coalition would not succeed if the two parties remained separate. “[A coalition] would be possible as a fraction within Yabloko; there are no other methods in the current situation,” he said, adding that creating a unified list of candidates for the elections was impossible by “hooking on from the outside.”

Declining to comment on Mitrokhin’s statement, Dikun said only that “I confirm my statement.” Konstantin Merzlikin, a deputy representative from RNDS, said that negotiations were indeed still ongoing, but were focused on determining what political platform the coalition would be based on. “It’s important to us that the coalition begin its work long before the elections,” he added.

Regarding Mitrokhin’s statement that the RNDS may have to become a fraction of Yabloko, Merzlikin responded that it was too early to say. “We are discussing the possibility of creating a coalition,” he stressed. “Whether or not this process will develop into a merger, time will tell.”

In addition to Yabloko, Kasyanov had issued the February 4 appeal for unification to the opposition movement Solidarity and Garry Kasparov’s United Civil Front. Solidarity co-leader Boris Nemtsov, also a former prime minister, said that while his party was declining the offer, “the unification process is very important – but it will not be simple to do.”

“Until now, Yabloko has not been seen in any of the processes for unification,” Nemtsov elaborated. “We will be glad if Mikhail Mikhailovich’s effort works out, but for me personally, it’s hard to believe.” Nemtsov’s former party, Union of Right Forces, held unsuccessful negotiations for several years to unify with Yabloko.

Nevertheless, Solidarity was more than ready to welcome Kasyanov into their ranks. “Our doors are open to him,” Nemtsov said. “Almost all the RNDS members besides him belong to Solidarity. We’ve told him a thousand times – come join us.”

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.

The liberal opposition isn’t faring much better. In fact, all but one of the original candidates, including Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Bukovsky, and Boris Nemtsov, have stepped down or been pressured out of the race. Now, the last remaining opposition candidate, Mikhail Kasyanov, looks fated to join them.

Kasyanov, who served as Putin’s prime minister before becoming a vocal critic of the administration, described the non-stop pressure from above against his campaign.

“With references to orders by higher authorities, people are threatened, pressed to confess to alleged illegal activities, forced to abandon membership in the political party,” Kasyanov wrote in an online statement.

Kasyanov, who heads the People’s Democratic Union, is running as an independent for the March 2nd election. In order to complete his registration, he was required to collect two million signatures. As soon as these were submitted for review, the problems began with the Central Electoral Commission (CEC).

According to the candidate’s press-secretary, representatives of Russia’s Registration Agency met the party’s signature-takers in 30 regions. The officials demanded that the activists sign a statement saying the signatures were bought, and told them to admit that their party didn’t exist.

On January 22nd, the CEC claimed that of the 400,000 names they checked, over 15% of the signatures were falsified and invalid. Only a 5% rate of error is allowed under Russian law. The Commission will examine 200,000 more signatures, and will then most likely disqualify Kasyanov from the race.

Apparently, disqualification may not be enough for authorities. On Tuesday, the Prosecutor-General’s office announced the launch of a criminal investigation on grounds of “falsification of election documents” in two Russian regions.

Kasyanov has stood firm in the face of what supporters call “political pressure.”

“I am decidedly protesting against the anti-constitutional and provocative actions of the authorities which are supposed to guard law and order,” Kasyanov wrote.

[It appears that a part of this story was previously cut off. We apologize for any inconvenience, and would like to thank the readers that brought it to our attention. -theotherrussia.org]

Kasyanov spoke powerfully based on his party’s program. His speech also marked a shift to blaming Putin personally for the loss of democracy in Russia. His topics ranged from electing judges to restoring free education and health care, and to the need to boost the economy beyond the energy sector. Perhaps Kasyanov’s biggest promise was to destroy the Gazprom monopoly.

Kasparov spoke for 15 minutes and praised the nomination. He indicated that now there are two hats in the ring. “One, a man of flesh and blood selected democratically. The other a weak shadow wandering the halls of the Kremlin.” In July, the Other Russia will begin a process to select a united candidate in the fall of 2007.

Meanwhile, Putin is again talking about “keeping busy” after his supposedly final term runs out. It still isn’t clear whether or not he will do this by mutilating the Constitution and taking a third term or by ruling from behind the throne of his hand-picked successor. The various Kremlin factions don’t know the answer to this yet either, making internal warfare inevitable.