Maidan

The following would be humorous except that apparently it's a true story.


Source: Moscow Times

Putin Aide Touts Russia as a Haven of Freedom

Friday, July 15, 2005
By Nabi Abdullaev
Staff Writer


People throughout the former Soviet Union view Russia as a haven of freedom, and Moscow should avoid backing political unrest in neighboring countries, a senior Kremlin official said in remarks published in Izvestia on Thursday.

But Modest Kolerov, head of the Kremlin's new Directorate for Interregional and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, said in a separate interview published in Nezavisimaya Gazeta on Thursday that Moscow had the right to support the opposition in Moldova, whose leadership has shifted its allegiances toward the West.

The directorate was created in March in what political analysts say is a Kremlin attempt to counter Western influence on opposition groups in former Soviet republics. That influence is credited with contributing to peaceful revolutions in Georgia in 2003 and in Ukraine last year, and the Kremlin is worried about a repeat in Russia.

"Russia and the Russian language in post-Soviet space is a freedom; it is a prerequisite for a larger freedom, for bigger opportunities," Kolerov told Izvestia.

He argued that the millions of migrants from former Soviet republics who live and work here are a sign that Russia is a free country. "They vote by their feet, and for me that is the best proof that Russia means freedom for bordering countries," he said.

Many of the migrants come to Russia in hope of improving their living standards, despite often being targets of police harassment.

Kolerov said Western countries did not look as kindly on migrants as Russia did. "Do they all offer places to work and study to hundreds of thousands of citizens from these countries like Russia does?" he said. "And some teachers of democracy at best offer citizens of these countries thousands of grants that often look like bribes, like getting them hooked and not offering them a space for self-realization."

He flatly ruled out a suggestion that Moscow should back democratic movements against authoritarian leaders such as Belarus' Alexander Lukashenko.

"Russia cannot and should not lead any discontent because it respects national sovereignty. ... A revolution does not bring any happiness," he said.

In the meantime, Kolerov on Wednesday attended a Moscow news conference by Moldovan opposition leaders. Asked by a Nezavisimaya Gazeta reporter whether Russia should support opposition in former Soviet republics, he replied, "Russia, Russian society and competent Russian institutions have the right to work with all political forces." He said that under European norms, human rights and democratic standards were not the internal affairs of countries.