Organizers of rally in Ostankino demand to separate Caucasus from Russia

Russia can no longer live with the republics of Northern Caucasus in one state - this was stated by Ilya Lazarenko, a co-chair of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and one of the organizers of the picket near the Ostankino TV Centre, sanctioned by Moscow authorities.

He told about the need to raise the issue of state demarcation and granting independence to these republics and noted that the blame for the ongoing clashes in Moscow, including clashes with the militiamen, is on the authorities and mass media.

Let us remind you that on December 18 the Moscow Mayoralty sanctioned a picket of the NDA in Ostankino, at which a resolution was read out demanding to stop "incorrect" coverage of recent events in Manege Square and near the "Evropeiskiy" Shopping Centre, separate the Caucasian republics from Russia and change the current leadership of the country.

After the end of the official part of the rally, in the Ostankino Park, militiamen began detaining youngsters who were shouting nationalist slogans. As a whole, in order to prevent unsanctioned street protests, over 1000 persons were detained; some 800 persons more were detained in Moscow suburbs.

"We demand a broad public discussion about a possibility to change the status of the national republics of Northern Caucasus. Huge subsidies from the federal budget are allocated to these republics; however, they are breeding grounds for terrorism, crime and ethnic clannish relations," said Ilya Lazarenko.

Andrei, a picketer, who preferred not to disclose his surname, has explained to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that despite the tough demands of the NDA resolution, its text had been forwarded to the authorities in advance together with the application on the picket; thus, the text and announcement of the resolution at a sanctioned picket were quite legitimate.

The statement of nationalists on the eve of the force militia operation to detain nationalists in the Ostankino Park roused the blogosphere.

"Mass media, in my deepest believe, are involved in creation of some simulacrum. They convince ordinary people of real existence of some terrible extremist forces; while in fact they are pupils of 8-10 forms, boys and girls, who, after having drunk weak-alcohol cocktails, are screaming out slogans after instigators, the content of which they hardly understand and not too much share," the blogger polyak_mahager gives his impressions.

The blogger encontrar has suggested that the events occurring in Moscow and other Russian cities aimed to divert the public attention from serious issues and commented on what is happening as follows: "It is obvious that the authorities benefit from the nationalism-inspired events just to distract attention. Just look at the life of the country within the last six months, and you'll be able to forecast the upcoming months: forest fires - demonstrative Premier's visits and live telephone calls" 'Yes, Dmitri, everything is under control', and 'sawing' budget to put out fires; thefts at 'Transneft'; bloody showdown in the province, where militiamen had just sat out in corners for years, or were just stakeholders... If you look into the month ahead, you'll see that from January 1 Russian Railways haulage to rise by 10 percent, housing utilities will go up by 10-25 percent without any improvement in quality of service... Inflation gets nearer to double-digit figure, which is worse than last year... We see a two-year decline in industrial production; the state got back to the budget deficit and again started to take billions overseas."

Igor Samoilov, a Moscow blogger, known under the nickname newpravda, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent: "I think the problem is in the need to ensure the equality of all citizens of the Russian Federation; that everyone shall feel the same inevitability of the law. If someone doesn't want to live in Russia, no one holds - there are many other countries where one can freely move. But if they want to live in Russia, they should respect the Russian Federal Law, and not some other one. Donations from the federal budget should be stopped; or given to all the subjects equally; otherwise it happens that the whole Russian Federation works for one region and the two capitals," said the blogger.