A large group of us were traveling from Moscow to Samara from Sheremetyevo 1 Airport. I had a group of people traveling with me and so did Eduard Limonov. Famous human rights leader Lev Ponomaryov was also with us. Then there was a group of journalists, including people from The Wall Street Journal, the Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, Reuters, and others. There were 27 of us. As soon as we arrived at the airport it was clear we were going to have trouble. For the first time in my long life of travel I faced a police major at the check-in desk! He had a long list of names and he worked down the list and confiscated our passports. He didn’t hesitate a second to take mine, then Limonov’s and Ponomaryov’s.

Then he said he wanted us to go somewhere, refusing to tell us why. The man who was addressing us was “Captain Adamov,” although it was obvious from the way he spoke and acted that he wasn’t a captain or a policeman. I called Karina Moskalenko and while I was on the phone with her, “Captain Adamov” commented, “she had a similar problem at Domodedovo [airport]!” I asked him if he worked there as well and he said no, that he’d read about her incident on the internet. I described him to Karina on the phone and she identified him exactly.

Several of our group already had boarding passes. Alexander Rykhlin, Sasha Osovtsov, and Marina Litvinovich left to try to board the plane. But a man in a black suit appeared and waved frantically for them to be intercepted and turned back.

We were stuck there in limbo, not arrested but not allowed to advance or retreat. 13 of us had no passports or tickets and could get no sensible comment from the authorities. We had a lawyer in our group and he also failed to get a statement of any kind. It’s amazing, these people don’t care at all about what laws they break. They have total immunity and know they can get away with anything. We tried to simply leave but our way was again blocked. I asked, “are we under arrest?” “No,” he said, “but you cannot leave the area.” We stayed in this de facto detention for five hours in the boarding area. The WSJ and Telegraph reporters were trapped along with us. The other 14 had passports and were allowed to leave but stayed and waited for us.

Finally, at 11:20am, they told us they were checking our tickets to see if they were counterfeit! They had all this paperwork and protocol to go through. It all ended at a quarter-past one. The last plane we could have taken to get to Samara in time for the march was at 1:30. The moment the gate closed, we were given back our passports and allowed to leave. We did not, however, receive any refund for our tickets! Perhaps the Putin police state is even more bankrupt than we thought.

The events in Samara prove that civilians are no longer in control in Russia. The security apparatus is in charge from the top to the bottom, from Putin to the streets. The mayor of Samara wasn’t in charge of his own town and all the papers he signed approving our march were worthless. Now we hear Putin at a press conference saying we don’t bother him at all, but that our protests must be organized under the law. But the Samara march was officially approved, and we weren’t even permitted to travel to the city hosting the event.

Around 500 people showed up in the streets of Samara despite the worst efforts of the security forces. United Civil Front executive director Denis Bilunov was arrested yet again, making it two days running. We have an inside joke that we wish Denis were half as dangerous as the authorities seem to believe he is. Today he and two activists, plus FOCUS correspondent Boris Reitschuster were picked up by a man in civilian clothes with Interior Ministry papers. The charge this time was “looking like potential terrorists.” They were released several hours later.

We note the pathetic quality of the authorities’ excuses for harassment. They don’t even bother to pretend it’s anything other than pure provocation. As we have documented here, the Kremlin has done everything possible to limit attendance at the Samara march, which is taking place at the same time as the EU-Russia summit in that city. A march that was officially approved by city officials! Official statements from Garry Kasparov and others will follow.

Update: It appears the international media won’t ignore Putin’s latest attempt to crush every shred of opposition. Will Western leaders stand up? From Spiegel Online:

Russian opposition leaders, including Garry Kasparov, were arrested Friday morning on their way to Samara to protest an EU-Russia summit. The Kremlin doesn’t want images of police beating up protestors to be beamed around the world. But Angela Merkel has lodged a protest of her own with Vladimir Putin.

From the Associated Press:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the European Union presidency, complained at the post-summit news conference that opposition activists were being prevented from traveling for the protest.

“I’m concerned about some people having problems in traveling here,” Merkel told reporters. “I hope they will be given an opportunity to express their opinion.”

Merkel’s remark came amid a sometimes fractious exchange between Putin and EU leaders at the news conference over Russia’s democratic freedoms and the government’s treatment of critics.

Putin said his government does not fear protests, but insisted that opponents of the government must abide by the law, and blamed some violence on demonstrators.

And what violence would that be, Mr. President? Other Russia is proud of our perfect record of non-violence in the Dissenters’ Marches. All of the violence has been on the part of the police — much of it very well documented in the press. We appreciate Chancellor Merkel taking notice of this crackdown, but it will take a lot more than hope for us to have a free voice in Russia. As long as EU leaders continue to pretend Putin is a democratic leader in a democratic country their continue “concern” isn’t worth a counterfeit ruble.

One may consider these stunning overreactions by the government to be a form of response to the many criticisms leveled by the EU and the USA regarding the police violence against the rallies on the 14th in Moscow and the 15th in St. Petersburg. The answer: “We will do whatever we want and will crack down on any public display of dissent.” Putin’s self-proclaimed “dictatorship of law” has never been in sharper focus.

As a footnote, no police action was taken against the pro-Hitler rally held in Moscow on the 20th. Indeed, no fascist organization has ever been summoned by the Russian courts. The skinheads and fascist groups calling loudly for the expulsion and even the extermination of ethnic minorities – and killings and acts of violence have occured – seem to enjoy special immunity.