From the editor
Mikhail Gorbachev turned 90 this week, and it’s an appropriate moment to look back at his era as the 30th anniversary of the August 1991 coup approaches. In the West Gorbachev was viewed very favourably when he introduced his policies of glasnost and perestroika and allowed Eastern Europeans to regain their freedoms in 1989. He was also very charismatic and someone British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher “could do business with”, as she put it. But his determination to preserve the Soviet Union and its system while attempting to reform it from within was fatal.
In April 1986, just over a year after Gorbachev had become general secretary of the Communist Party, the Chernobyl disaster happened. The new openness didn’t extend to promptly informing the Soviet population or the world about the dangers, and it was only after the Swedish government detected the radiation that the Soviet government admitted the reactor had exploded. Later Gorbachev did more harm when Soviet troops killed civilians in efforts to crush independence movements in Tbilisi in April 1989, Baku in January 1990 and Vilnius in January 1991. His failure to rein in hardliners resulted in his temporary ousting and mass resistance in Moscow that brought Boris Yeltsin to power.
In 1997 Gorbachev starred in an ad for Pizza Hut in which he eats in the fast food restaurant in Moscow and other diners argue over his legacy. One man says Gorbachev caused economic chaos and political instability, while another thinks he created new opportunities and brought freedom – but they both agree that they are eating in Pizza Hut thanks to him. Everyone in the restaurant stands up and toasts Gorbachev, holding up slices of pizza. For his fee, Gorbachev appeared to have dropped the socialist principles he always claimed to believe in.
Mikhail Gorbachev appeared in a Pizza Hut ad after leaving office
In recent years the former Soviet president has again shown himself to be morally flexible, expressing support for the annexation of Crimea and saying in 2014, “I am absolutely convinced that Putin protects Russia’s interests better than anyone else.” In 2016 he commented, “NATO has begun preparations for escalating from the Cold War into a hot one. All the rhetoric in Warsaw just yells of a desire almost to declare war on Russia. They only talk about defence, but actually they are preparing for offensive operations.”
One thing Gorbachev can be called is a survivor, and adapting to constantly changing circumstances is one way to avoid an untimely demise in today’s Russia. Boris Nemtsov, the anniversary of whose murder was marked last weekend, refused to do that and paid the price. Now every Russian has to decide whom they would rather emulate.
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Boris Nemtsov remembered
The Kremlin refused to allow marches commemorating the sixth anniversary of the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov on February 27, using coronavirus as the excuse, but that didn’t stop about 6,500 people from visiting the bridge in Moscow where he was shot and bringing flowers. People stood in a queue and patiently waited their turn to pay respects on the bridge throughout the day and evening. Foreign ambassadors brought flowers and opposition activists including Ilya Yashin and Alexei Navalny’s wife Yulia paid tribute. Many people drew parallels between Nemtsov and Navalny, accusing Vladimir Putin of planning the assassinations of both men and covering up the truth. In other cities around Russia people brought flowers and portraits of Nemtsov to monuments to victims of political repressions.
US and UN condemn Russia for actions against Navalny
The United States has joined the EU in sanctioning top Russian officials and state organisations in response to the poisoning and jailing of Alexei Navalny. “The Kremlin’s use of chemical weapons to silence a political opponent and intimidate others demonstrates its flagrant disregard for international norms,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, according to the department. Meanwhile two UN human rights experts have said there should be an investigation into Navalny’s poisoning and those responsible should be held accountable. “We believe that poisoning Mr. Navalny with Novichok might have been deliberately carried out to send a clear, sinister warning that this would be the fate of anyone who would criticise and oppose the Government. Novichok was precisely chosen to cause fear,” said Agnès Callamard and Irene Khan, according to a press release.
Navalny himself is currently in a detention centre in Vladimir Oblast and is expected to be transferred to a prison in the same region to serve his sentence of two years and six months.
Crimea activist sentenced for resisting Russia
A court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced Crimea resident Oleg Prikhodko to five years in prison after the FSB planted explosives in his garage and claimed he was plotting a terrorist attack. Prikhodko had put up a Ukrainian flag on his house in a case that is almost identical to that of Volodymyr Balukh, who received a similar sentence in 2017. Prikhodko was arrested in October 2019. The 62-year-old was defiant in court, shouting insults at the judge during his sentencing.
Journalist jailed in Moscow
Well-known journalist Ilya Azar has been jailed for 15 days and fined 150,000 roubles ($2,030) for two Facebook posts calling on people to protest last year. One was in response to the arrest of former journalist Ivan Safronov on a treason charge and the other opposed Vladimir Putin’s changes to the constitution that enabled him to potentially remain in power until 2036. Safronov had worked for Kommersant newspaper before taking a job with the Roskosmos space agency. The details of the accusations against him have been kept secret.
Alliance of Doctors listed as foreign agent
Russia’s Justice Ministry has added the Alliance of Doctors to the list of foreign agents, joining a lengthening list of NGOs that have this designation. The leader of the Alliance of Doctors, Dr. Anastasia Vasilieva, has already been charged with violating Covid regulations in connection with her support for protests, and was under house arrest awaiting trial until a court recently changed her restrictions to a night-time curfew. The organisation provided PPE to hospitals around the country when there was a shortage at the start of the pandemic last year, often facing resistance from local officials.
Foreign agent organisations must describe themselves as such on all their materials, and the stigma of the designation has led to many having to close down altogether. This week 79-year-old human rights activist Lev Ponomarev announced that his group “For Human Rights” would dissolve itself after he himself was designated as an individual foreign agent. Last year the law was tightened to enable the Justice Ministry to list individuals as foreign agents as well as organisations.