Tuesday’s rally marked the eleventh iteration of the opposition’s Strategy 31 campaign. About 2000 people came out to Moscow’s Triumfalnaya Square to take part in the event, making it the largest rally in the campaign’s history.

As with the previous ten rallies, Moscow city authorities turned down an application by Strategy 31 organizers to obtain legal sanction to hold the event. Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov defended this permission-based system in a session of the city government earlier in the day, saying that the city’s decision to allow or disallow any given rally is not due to any “particular love” for certain rally organizers, but to considerations for public safety.

“Before every event in the capital, we take all necessary organizational measures to assure total safety for the people,” said the mayor, noting that anyone who wishes to hold a demonstration can file an application with the city and receive a decision within ten days.

The system will remain as it is, he went on, “and in the future we will continue to carry out this work in accordance with the law.”

“We will now allow chaos in Moscow,” Luzhkov stressed.

Luzhkov’s statements appear to contradict the Russian federal law that governs rallies, marches and demonstrations, which requires only a notification – not an application for permission – to be filed with the city in order to hold such an event.

Tuesday’s rally was scheduled to begin at 6:00 pm, and by that time Triumfalnaya Square had already been completely cordoned off by OMON riot police and internal military forces. According to a Kasparov.ru correspondent, the police left no free space for ralliers to gather. About 50 police buses bordered the perimeter of the square, and police blocked all pedestrians from entering. Part of the sidewalk between the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and Triumfalnaya Square, where Strategy 31 ralliers have previously gathered when the square itself was blocked off, was also cordoned off.

Strategy 31 organizers issued a statement of concern on Tuesday morning regarding an interview with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that had been published the day before. In the interview, the prime minister charged that the real goal of Strategy 31 participants “is to get bludgeoned upside the head,” and that ralliers routinely provoke police into acting violently. In their response, rally organizers rejected the accusation and stated that any “possible incidents” of violence at the rally would be Putin’s personal responsibility.

At the same time, Moscow City Police Chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev did promise to train his officers to detain activists using less painful methods. There was no apparent option to simply not detain any ralliers at all – Deputy Police Chief Vyacheslav Kozlov said that the unsanctioned rally would be duly broken up.

A three-person delegation from the European Parliament, headed by Human Rights Committee Chairwoman Heidi Hautala, was present at the rally at the invitation of Strategy 31 organizers. Deputy Chief Kozlov said ahead of time that the delegates would not be excluded from possible detention.

According to a count by Kasparov.ru correspondents, approximately 2000 ralliers gathered on Triumfalnaya Square despite the heavy police presence and the fact that the square itself is almost entirely barricaded off for construction. Nevertheless, participants managed to rally for nearly two and a half hours, chanting opposition slogans that called for Putin to step down and for the 31st article of the Russian constitution, which guarantees free assembly, to be observed.

Moscow city police and Federal Security Service (FSB) agents reportedly created a jam in the crowd while attempting to push the ralliers away from the square, but did not manage to break up the protest.

Kasparov.ru estimates that approximately 100 people were detained during the course of the rally, including leading opposition activists Boris Nemtsov, Ilya Yashin, Sergei Udaltsov, and Roman Dobrokhotov. Two of the three Strategy 31 organizers, Eduard Limonov and Konstantin Kosyakin, were also detained. The third organizer, Moscow Helsinki Group head and former Soviet dissident Lyudmila Alexeyeva, was present at the rally but was not detained.

Official figures from the Moscow City Police cite 70 detainees, and put the number of people present at the rally at 400 people, including 300 journalists.

Eyewitnesses noted that police did not refrain from acting violently while detaining rally participants. Several activists were seen with bloody faces after having been beaten by law enforcement agents. The first participant to be detained was an activist holding a poster picturing Russia’s symbolic two-headed eagle – one head being that of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and the other of Vladimir Putin.

As of 10:00 pm, several of the most high-profile detainees had been released, including Nemtsov and Limonov. Nemtsov was told that he had supposedly blocked pedestrian movement during the rally and had been detained on that basis. They and several other activists were charged with “violating the established procedure for arranging or conducting a meeting, rally, demonstration, procession, or picket,” an administrative violation punishable by a small fine. As of Tuesday night, approximately 80 detainees remained in various Moscow police stations.

Strategy 31 rallies were also held on Tuesday in various cities throughout Russia, with several solidarity events also taking place in Europe. Approximately 80 out of 700 ralliers were detained in an event in St. Petersburg, and rallies were held with varying levels of success or suppression in Omsk, Yaroslav, Sochi, Voronezh, Makhachkala, and numerous other Russian cities. One event in London included the participation of refugee Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky and the widow of murdered ex-FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko, Marina Litvinenko.

The Rally of Dissent on Triumfalnaya Square, part of the ongoing Strategy-31 initiative by the Other Russia coalition, saw an increased number of participants compared to recent events. Opposition groups put estimates at between 700 and 1000 protesters.

Among those detained were former deputy prime minister and leader of the Solidarity opposition movement Boris Nemtsov, Solidarity leader Ilya Yashin, prominent political activists Roman Dobrokhotov and Nikolai Lyaskin, Memorial human rights organization chairman Oleg Orlov, and Lev Ponomarev of the organization For Human Rights.

Also detained was National Bolshevik leader Eduard Limonov, who organized the rally together with former Soviet dissident and prominent rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva and activist Konstantin Kosyakin. Limonov was detained several minutes after appearing at the rally, but was able to answer several questions from journalists.

“We, the citizens, have the right to be here on this square,” Limonov declared. “Whether the police have this right is a big question.”

Law enforcement officials, which included internal military forces and the notoriously brutal OMON police forces, were reportedly harsher than usual in their treatment of detainees. Eyewitnesses noted that a girl, bloody after being beaten by police, was among those in an OMON bus on its way to a police station.

Protesters attempted to block the road when the buses began to depart from the square, but were dispersed by police.

Journalists, photographers and cameramen had been cordoned off early in the evening into a small space near the exit of a nearby metro station.

The large number of participants, however, was somewhat overwhelming for the police.

“Usually they manage to detain all the activists in 30 minutes,” said photographer Ilya Varlamov, “but this time it took two hours.”

Many protesters clipped tags to their coats with the phrase “Article 31 of the Russian Constitution,” providing for freedom of assembly, which they hoped would inform the police of “what they were detaining.”

Sunday marked Nemtsov’s first time participating in the series of rallies, dubbed Strategy 31 by its organizers. “I haven’t participated up until now in the rallies on the 31st,” the former deputy prime minister said on his blog. “It seemed to me that with Limonov in charge, it wasn’t worth our ideological differences. On December 31, my attitude toward the rallies changed. It became shameful, upon seeing that while we drank champagne and snacked on olivye, OMON officers were driving the distinguished Lyudmila Alexeyeva onto a police bus.”

The rally on December 31 ended in the detention of approximately 60 of 400 activists present, including the 82-year old Alexeyeva. Her arrest in particular drew immediate scorn from domestic rights groups as well as the United States and various European governments.

Like all previous Rallies of Dissent, Sunday’s demonstration was held without official sanction from the Moscow city authorities. While organizers submitted a proper application, the mayor’s office stated that “winter festivities” had been planned for Triumfalnaya Square on Sunday evening and advised them to pick another location. Organizers of the rally maintain that federal authorities are simply continuing to do whatever they can to block citizens’ rights to exercise freedom of assembly.

Analagous rallies were also held on Sunday in St. Petersburg, Astrakhan, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Omsk, Murmansk and other cities througout Russia.

Valmarov’s photographs of the rally can be seen by clicking here.

The measure was introduced as an amendment to current Russian legislation that governs demonstrations and other public gatherings.

Legislators explained the measure in an explanatory note, saying that solo protesters sometimes set themselves on fire or, alternatively, come under attack by other people. Under current legislation, the note continues, local police receive no notification that a protest is planned and therefore are unable to properly respond when such a situation breaks out.

Until now, solitary demonstrations were the only legal means of protest for Russian citizens that did not require any type of official sanction. Opposition protesters have frequently been forced to utilize this provision after being denied sanction for larger gatherings.

Russian rights activists and opposition leaders reacted strongly to Friday’s announcement that their last remaining means of legal protest would soon be effectively banned, rejecting the idea that the measure was for their own safety.

Denis Bilunov, executive director of the opposition movement Solidarity, said that the initiative “directly contradicts” federal law.

Roman Dobrokhotov, leader of the opposition movement We, said that the initiative was no surprise given the Ministry of Transport’s recent move to stiffen penalties for protesters who blocked roads or highways.

The new penalties were introduced to the Russian State Duma at the end of December, with fines rising from 2,500 rubles ($84) to 100,000 rubles ($3,340), and the maximum prison sentence rising from 15 days to two years.

Blocking highways has become a growing means of protest in Russia for older citizens and pensioners who have failed to affect change through other means. Residents in the devastated industrial town of Pikalevo were able to receive long unpaid wages only after gaining nationwide media attention by blocking a federal highway last June.

According to Dobrokhotov, both pieces of legislation will backfire if adopted.

“We will block the roads and hold solo protests out of principle, to fight for our rights,” he said. “Moreover, we will hold such demonstrations more often than before.”

Dobrokhotov added, however, that essentially “nothing is changing” since police have often interrupted solitary demonstrations regardless of the fact that they are legal.

In November, Solidarity leaders obtained an internal police memo that ordered officers to illegally disrupt a series of solo demonstrations. The movement plans to use the document in a lawsuit against the Russian Internal Ministry’s notorious Center for Extremism Prevention, which, according to the document, ordered the illegal detentions.

Ilya Yashin, a Solidarity member who posted the police memo on his blog, agreed that there was nothing surprising about the newest government initiative. “The authorities consider this type of demonstration to be a menace, since it’s the only measure that the opposition can still use relatively effectively,” he said.

Approximately 50 protesters took to the streets in Moscow on Saturday in response to both pieces of legislation. Sergei Udaltsov, leader of the Left Front political organization, said that activists would protest outside of the Kremlin when the amendments come up for deliberation.

“The year is beginning badly,” Udaltsov said. “The government’s initiatives attest to the fact that they are expecting a second wave for the crisis and, consequently, a rise in protests.”

Police officers subjected people attempting to join the protest to a thorough search, banning some from taking part on the basis of unspecified written material that the people in question were carrying.

Prominent human rights advocate Lev Ponomarev said that the amendment to strip citizens of the unconditional right to solitary protests would be harmful for citizen society at large. “If a person is connected with a political group, he knows how to submit applications for demonstrations and rallies. An ordinary person only knows that at any moment he can go outside to hold a solitary demonstration and nobody will arrest him,” Ponomarev said.

One demonstration at Prechistinskiye Gates took the form of a funeral memorial, with participants lighting candles and laying flowers at the base of a copy of the nation’s governing document.

The demonstration was jointly organized by the United Civil Front, Oborona, and the movement We. Together with a number of other activists, the group held placards enumerated the articles of the constitution that they believe no longer function. Another placard declared “In Russia, human rights are observed on three counts – the right to be silent, the right to endure, and the right to die.”

Roman Dobrokhotov, leader of the movement We, explained the reasoning behind the form of the protest. “Today we want to commemorate the constitution of the Russian Federation; since its birth we have observed the asymmetries of government authorities, and those have lead to its sudden death,” he said.

Dobrokhotov went on to say that the constitution has been subjected to “political incest” since 2000, the beginning of Putin’s first term as president.

Boris Nemtsov, a former Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Solidarity movement, said that authorities aim “to trample and annihilate the constitution and to strip citizens of all rights.” He added that censorship and alienation from the electoral process was harming the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens.

“Unfortunately, the majority of citizens feel that they have no power to contend with this. But there are nevertheless people in this country who are prepared to fight for freedom,” Nemtsov said.

Towards the end of the demonstration, participants laid a funeral wreath at the foot of the constitution while the national hymn played in the background. It concluded with a moment of silence, and the proceeding arrest of Dobrokhotov by law enforcement agents.

Solidarity activists held another demonstration outside the doors of the presidential administrative building in central Moscow. Approximately fifty people took part in the unsanctioned protest, holding placards with letters that together spelled out “Observe the constitution!”

A few minutes after the start of the demonstration, a number of men in plain clothes, believed to be officers from the Federal Guard Service, ran out of the building and began to aggressively detain the protestors.

While most of the activists managed to escape, six were detained, and the men confiscated a number of cameras and videos.

According to a survey released on Thursday, respect among Russians for the constitution has doubled over the past seven years. The number of Russians who feel that the constitution is unimportant and not respected fell to 21 percent from 40 percent in 2002, and those who feel that it should be amended only in extremely rare circumstances rose from to 47 percent from 35 percent in 2000.

The constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted through a popular referendum on December 12, 1993. The most recent amendment to the document was incorporated approximately a year ago by President Dmitri Medvedev, lengthening the presidential term from four years to six.

As it turns out, the Russian police are creating databases used to the track the movements of law-abiding citizens.  The project is overseen by a new department for countering extremism within the Russian police, but often targeted at individuals for no reason other than their political views or activism.

Journalist Irina Borogan documents these “black lists” in the third in a series of articles documenting the government campaign to battle extremism and strengthen control over the public.  The series is a joint project between the Yezhednevny Zhurnal online newspaper and the Agentura.ru web portal, which specializes in investigating Russia’s intelligence agencies.

Previous articles have focused on the nature of the new anti-extremism department of the Russian police and have questioned why emphasis has shifted from battling organized crime to extremism.  The next article will examine electronic surveillance systems and their use to control the behavior of groups of people.

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The Kremlin’s Anti-Crisis Package:  How and Why “Black Lists” Are Made
Irina Borogan
June 2, 2009
Yezhednevny Zhurnal

Since the spring of this year, thousands of policemen throughout the entire country have been forced to engage in the search for extremists.  It is already plain to see that there aren’t enough extremists to go around:  according to the Ministry of Internal Affair’s [MVD] Central Informational-Analytical Center (GIATs), in 2008, there were 379 people in Russia identified for committing “extremist” crimes.  For a whole Department of the MVD, which has units (the E centers) in nearly every region, this is clearly insufficient.  Which means that the number of extremists must be supplemented.  But doing this legally, through the courts, will be difficult: in the last year, the courts refused to recognize extremist motives in nearly half of all cases, and the cases fell apart.

In such a situation, the policemen will need to work on “preventing” crimes, as Minister [Rashid] Nurgaliev is constantly calling on them to do.  And this calls for different methods for the tacit surveillance of suspects: tapping telephones, opening and inspecting mail, monitoring travel within the country and outside its borders, and so forth.  But first, the circle of people suspected of extremism must be determined, designating the people whose potential crime consists of spreading radical views or simply points of view that don’t coincide with the views of authorities.

The fact that these “black” lists of citizens exist has not only been expressed by human rights activists, but by policemen themselves as they report on the work they have done.  But now one can confidently assert that there is secret surveillance and data gathering being conducted on the citizen who ended up on such a list.  And this has recently been deemed lawful.

Details that emerged in court

In April 2009, when [authorities] announced that the creation of anti-extremist units in the country was completed, a court ruled lawful the MVD’s tracking of the movements of Sergey Shimovolos, which was done on order from the local UBOP (now – the Center for Countering Extremism).  During the trial, it came to light that 3,865 Russians were under this type of surveillance in 2007.

All of these people, including Sergey Shimovolos, the chair of the Nizhny-Novgorod Human Rights Society, were put on a police list, and a so-called “watchdog surveillance” (storozhevoy kontrol).  Now, their names come up in the very same electronic card files that have data on criminals on the wanted list.

The assumption that the militsiya and FSB were creating “black lists” of political and social activists emerged several years ago.  People began to notice that not a single trip to a public function, whether a “March of Dissent” or a human rights conference, happened without problems from the police.  Moreover, people in uniform sometimes sprang up at nearly every stop along the social activist’s whole itinerary.

In May 2007, for instance, when Sergey Shimovolos was making his way from Nizhny Novgorod to Samara in order to conduct an independent investigation of restrictions put on protests during the G-8 summit, he was checked three times: in the Nizhny Novgorod and Samara Oblasts, as well as mid-trip – in the Republic of Mordovia.  Each time, an officer of the transit police asked him to explain where he was headed and what he planned to do there.  Clearly, the checks were planned and initiated, and notably in three regions at once.  But how?

“In Samara I was lucky: the policemen honestly wrote in the report, that they detained me on the grounds a telegram (teletypogram) they received, and had to question me in line with crime prevention measures for conducting protest actions,” Sergey Shimovolos told the Yezhednevny Zhurnal.  Afterward, through court, I received materials that bore witness to the fact that I was put under “watchdog surveillance” by a decision of the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast UBOP [Organized Crime Unit], which allowed them to strategically monitor my movements through the ticket sales database.”

Shimovolos decided to protest his surveillance in court.  He asked the court to recognize that these measures violate a person’s rights, and to compel the MVD to destroy all records of him and all citizens who had not been deemed to be extremists by a court, but had still been entered into this database.  On April 22, 2009, the Nizhny Novgorod District Court refused the human rights activist on all counts.

What is “watchdog surveillance”

Shimovolos lost, but thanks to his lawsuit, we learned how the system of surveillance over law-abiding citizens is carried out.

Information about Shimovolos made its way into the “Rozysk-magistral” (“Wanted Line”) electronic database of the Russian Federation MVD on March 19, 2007.  The decision to include his information into the database was made by officers in the UBOP GUVD for the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, based upon strategic reasons that comprise a state secret, in the opinion of the police.  Shimovolos himself assumes this happened because he was among the organizers of a “March of Dissent” in Nizhny Novgorod.

Having put Shimovolos’s details into the “Wanted Line” database, the policemen put him on “watchdog surveillance:” one type of record that exists to track someone’s movements.

At first, the MVD’s “Wanted Line” hardware and software suite (PTK) was created to automatically assist in the search for criminals on the federal and local wanted lists.  The PTK is “linked” to the “Express” and “Magistral” databases, which constantly receive information about train and airline tickets purchased by Russians.  When a criminal buys a ticket, the information makes its way into the PTK server.  Next, this information is communicated to the local transport police (OVD), located along the itinerary of the passenger train and in airports.  The objective is clear – the arrest of the criminal.

At the same time, data about law-abiding citizens, like Shimovolos, were introduced into the PTK.  They were then put on “watchdog surveillance.”  The whole procedure is the same, except that instead of an arrest, policemen receive instructions of what kind of work they must conduct with the citizens who are not suspected of a criminal offense.*

The Yezhednevny Zhurnal received further proof of how this system works from Roman Dobrokhotov, a participant in the “For Human Rights” movement.  On May 6, 2009, Dobrokhotov came by train from Volgograd to the capital’s Paveletsky Rail Terminal, where he was detained by a policeman waiting for him by the rail car’s exit.  The UVD officer was ordered to have a preventative talk with him.  As it turned out, Dobrokhotov was arrested on the basis of an [official] message, which spelled out in black and white how the Center for Investigative Information of the Moscow UVD for Transport reported that Dobrokhotov was put on “watchdog surveillance” by the Department for Countering Extremism of the RF MVD.

As result, the efforts of at least three police units were expended to track Dobrokhotov’s route.  The activist has never been indicted on criminal charges, but has taken part in different non-systemic political movements.

New technologies

As far as one can judge from the circumstances of Dobrokhotov’s arrest, it was conducted in the old way, without the use of ultra-modern technologies that the MVD already has at its disposal.  Such as, for instance, the portable terminal of the very same “Wanted Line” PTK: externally, it resembles a smartphone, weighing less than 200 grams, but in addition to text information, it can transmit photo and video-images.  This pocket device is designed to give militsiya officers real-time access to federal and regional databases like “Wanted persons,” “Passports,” “Weapons,” “Theft,” “Automotive Transport Wanted by Interpol,” and others.

As the manufacturers report in the technical manual, this pocket terminal has access to the nearest database server in real-time over existing communication channels, which allows for the broadcast of digital information, including the use of WEB-technology.

Aside from that, practically every large rail terminal and airport in Russia, as well as a part of trains and commuter trains, are equipped with “Videolock” face recognition systems – with cameras in rail cars, waiting rooms, cash registers and on platforms.  In principle, Dobrokhotov could well have been detained with the help of such a system.  A policeman could have received his image, marked with a special symbol, on the hand-held console.

***

In such a way, the MVD Department for Countering Extremism is at present forming “black lists.”  Data is added to them on the basis of “strategic reasons,” that are not even revealed in court.  Having gotten on these lists, citizens end up under the microscope of electronic surveillance systems of travel which were created to capture actual criminals.  Furthermore, a court has found this type of actions to be absolutely legal.

* – “watchdog surveillance” is also used by the Court Bailiffs Service to search for debtors, and the FSKN [Federal Drug Control Service] to track the movements of suspected drug couriers.

translation by theotherrussia.org

—

United Russia, the Russian political party led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, will stage street rallies to back the Russian authorities, the Kommersant newspaper reports on January 16th. According to the party’s local branch, the first such positive protest will take place on January 24th in Moscow.

Experts have suggested that the economic crisis in Russia may lead to discontent among the public, and United Russia intends to steer any negative outcry spilling into the streets in a positive direction.

Yury Shuvalov, the head of the Center for Socio-Conservative Policy, and a party officer, said the first event would be held in late January “to support the president and prime minister.” United Russia are not planning to “counteract citizen’s public demonstrations,” Shuvalov added, but on the contrary “are planning to participate in the process and to intellectually guide it.”

“There is an understanding,” he went on, “that we can’t in any case allow the breakdown of the political situation in the country, that we must maintain social stability, but not by those methods previously used.” To do this, he said, “we can’t so much imitate discussion, as lead explanatory work about what the authorities are doing to minimize the strains setting in as result of the changing socio-economic situation.”

“It is very important to tell people the truth,” Shuvalov said, “and not be scared to openly admit erroneous decisions [made by authorities].”

Opposition youth activist Roman Dobrokhotov said the “intellectual guidance” described by United Russia will likely equal a search for an external enemy.

“From the very start, the authorities have tried to channel the public sentiment against a foreign source,” Dobrokhotov told the Sobkor®ru news agency. “Take for instance a meeting of Nashi [youth] by the US embassy, where the schoolchildren admitted it: they are being taught that the US intentionally provoked the economic crisis to weaken Russia; that this was their geopolitical goal.

“In the context of the “gas war,” another line was born from above: comments appeared that the gas war was instigated by the West as part of a strategy of fighting Russia.”

The Russian public, Dobrokhotov believes, is unlikely to buy this official stance. Recent car enthusiast protests in Vladivostok show that the public is prepared to protest, the youth leader said.

“It hasn’t happened in one country, that the ruling party is praised under conditions of a worsening economic situation,” he continued. The United Russia meetings, he said, could even end up counterproductive to the public perception of authorities.

Other opposition leaders have pointed out the double standard applied to demonstrations sponsored by different groups. In Moscow, city officials have repeatedly refused to allow Marches of Dissent put on by the Other Russia opposition coalition, claiming the events would interfere with traffic. Rallies put on by pro-Kremlin groups like Nashi have meanwhile been given free access to locations around the city.

Responding to what it described as unreasonable restrictions by the Moscow mayor’s office, the Other Russia has pledged to hold multiple demonstrations across Moscow in a Day of Dissent. The first such day of protest will take place on January 31st.

To reach its conclusions, the organization researched metrics for political rights and civil liberties around the world, then ranking countries on a 7 point scale for each category, 1 representing most free and 7 representing least free (read the Freedom House methodology for the 2008 report).

For 2009, Russia received 6 points for political rights and 5 for civil liberties, the same score it has held since 2005. Chechnya, which is classified as a disputed territory, received 7 for both categories.

Russia is one of 42 countries classified as “not free.” Only 23 countries, including Belarus, Cameroon, Eritrea, Iran, China, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan received scores indicating they were less free. Conversely, more than 150 countries ranked as more free than Russia, including Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Estonia and Latvia.

Youth activist Roman Dobrokhotov, who gained international prominence in December for heckling Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, was unsatisfied with the report:

“Even thought the report came out in 2009, in essence it’s from last year,” he said. “It discusses the heinous Parliamentary elections and other events from 2007, but has no mention of presidential elections, the war in Georgia or changes to the Constitution.”

“This will probably be reflected in the next report, and Russia will have all the opportunity to receive a 7 and 6, respectively,” he added. “For now we are objectively more free than Turkmenistan, North Korea, and Libya.”

—

Read the 2008 Freedom House country report for Russia.

The effort started simply. Contacting classmates and friends through online social networks and the internet, a woman named Inessa Lanskaya offered 20,000 rubles (€585 or $740) to anyone with dirt on a number of people, including Garry Kasparov, Ilya Barabanov, Aleksei Venediktov, and Dmitri Bykov. Lanskaya was looking for kompromat, a Russian term meaning “compromising materials” aimed at ruining the target’s political or professional reputation.

Dobrokhotov decided to go along with Lanskaya, recording all of their interactions and eventually feeding her false information about his acquaintances.

“Everything started with one letter, which I received on October 17th,” he writes. “’Good afternoon Roman Aleksandrovich. I like your movement, and what you do. I have a question for you. I remember at the start of the year there was an action against the Kommersant publishing house and journalist Yulia Taratuta in the center of Moscow, and I’m very interested in any information about this woman. Could you help me? Inessa Lanskaya.’”

Taratuta was one of the targets attacked by unidentified pranksters in May, when toilet paper rolls bearing the logo of the Kommersant newspaper, as well as the journalist’s phone number were distributed in Moscow.

Dobrokhotov answered that Yulia Taratuta was a good journalist. Lanskaya replied more directly the second time: “I need information about her, for money, naturally. I am also interested in journalist Ilya Barabanov.”

Wanting to learn more, Dobrokhotov promised to help, and asked casually if there was anyone else that Lanskaya was interested in. The list of targets eventually widened to Aleksei Venediktov, Garry Kasparov, Dmitri Bykov, Yulia Taratuta, Ilya Barabanov, Mikhail Fishman, Mikhail Rostovsky, and Natalia Galimova.

The opposition leader then met with Lanskaya and another woman named Lyuda, recording their conversation with a dictaphone. Presenting himself as the leader of the We democratic youth movement, Dobrokhotov told the women that he “knew Ilya since childhood.” He then fibbed that Barabanov had recently taken to abusing psychedelic drugs, particularly the Lafaforia mushroom.

In truth, there is no such thing as a Lafaforia mushroom, which is in fact a reference to a made-up substance from Russian entertainer Sergey Kurehin, which corrupted the scientific name for the peyote cactus, Lophophora williamsii . It should also be noted that Barabanov was in on the joke.

Dobrokhotov then told his audience that Barabanov had insider sources in the Federal Security Service (FSB). The two women pressed him on the topic.

Speaking about Yulia Taratuta, the We leader misinformed his interviewers once again, telling them that the journalist published in the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper under the pseudonym of Rechkalov. He also disclosed a potentially shocking bit of news: “[Journalist] Yevgenia Albats is actually an employee of the Federal Security Service information division.”

Inessa and Lyuda were apparently pleased with the interview, and pressed Dobrokhotov repeatedly to take an envelope full of money. After several tense moments, he managed to refuse, wriggling out of the situation by explaining that he felt unsafe at their location and asking to meet another time in the metro. The two women told him that the information he gave them would be published after they finished interviews with other sources, and completed research on the people on their list. They did not mention which publication the article would appear in, but offering more money to anyone Dobrokhotov referred to them.

Dobrokhotov later found out that the provocateurs had been seeking out Barabanov’s classmates through the Moi Krug (My Circle) social networking website. Barabanov confirmed this on his blog, adding that the intense search for sleaze had been going on for several months.

If the search for kompromat is as wide as it appears from Dobrokhotov’s account, those pursuing it have notably deep pockets. “Of course, even journalists from propagandistic publications do have that kind of money,” he writes.

As the youth leader points out, the names on the target list have little in common, aside from having been critical of pro-Kremlin youth movements like Nashi and the Young Guard. “Possibly, revenge was being planned from their side,” he told the Sobkor®ru news agency.

Theses groups are funded directly by the presidential administration and foundations linked to Russian authorities. Their involvement would mean that Russia’s government was funding the smear campaign, directly or indirectly.

—

Video and audio recording of the exchange are available on Dobrokhotov’s blog (Rus), which also includes a complete transcript. Anyone who recognizes the two women is asked to help identify them.