Draft the protesters
Peter Finn's report in The Washington Post makes it sound like Putin's government is serious about suppressing dissent and perhaps paranoid about it.Journalists have interpreted repressive policies like this in Iran as signs of political weakness. Does that interpretation hold true for Russia as well?
Kremlin Uses Military Draft To Curb Foes, Activists Say
"For two years, Oleg Kozlovsky [being arrested at left] has been a fixture at anti-Kremlin street demonstrations, confronting riot police and just as often getting arrested..."Late last month, Kozlovsky was picked up by police, taken to a military conscription office and quickly shipped to a military base to serve a year in the army...
"Authorities are increasingly using the threat of the draft to intimidate the small but hard-nosed community of young activists who oppose President Vladimir Putin, according to opposition and human rights activists...
"Russia will elect a new president March 2, but opposition groups have pledged to take to the streets to protest what they see as Putin's determination to allow no challenge, however marginal, to the election of his chosen successor...
"The group Citizen and the Army, which opposes the draft and wants a volunteer army in Russia, said that in the past year it has documented dozens of cases of young political activists being taken to conscription offices...
"'Illegally drafting people is not new, and it's happening all over the place. But the political motivation is a new tactic,' said Maxim Burmitsky, head of legal defense at Citizen and the Army..."
posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:17 AM
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