Russian opposition disappointed at Dmitry Medvedev's reaction to protest actions

Representatives of the oppositional parties have expressed their disappointment at the reaction of President Dmitry Medvedev to protest actions of December 10 against falsifications at the elections.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 11 Dmitry Medvedev on his page on Facebook has commented on recent rallies. The President has expressed his discontent with the slogans of the protest actions; however, he has noted that he instructed to check information on violations of electoral law, which was obtained from the electoral precincts.

Sergey Mitrokhin, the leader of the "Yabloko" Party, said that Dmitry Medvedev should order the Prosecutor's Office and the Investigatory Committee to initiate criminal cases of falsification at the elections and organize the inspection of violations described in the media and on the Internet.

The leader of the "Yabloko" Party has expressed his confidence that the inspection will inevitably result in necessity to file a lawsuit to the Supreme Court to cancel the elections and conduct a new voting.

Gennady Gudkov, the MP from the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party, called the President's reaction "feeble" and also stated that he expected more specific acts from the head of state.

"We need to conduct a re-count in a number of large regions, such as Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Astrakhan," said Gennady Gudkov. The MP also has stated that the new Duma is likely to initiate the parliamentary investigation into violations at the elections, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

"We have no hope that complaints about violations of the electoral law will be investigated. They just keep saying that the elections should be honest and fair, and they do nothing," said Vadim Solovyov, the head of the legal service of the CPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation).

Politician Boris Nemtsov called the Dmitry Medvedev's statement a mockery of the rally participants. He has explained that such orders are applied "to stupefy people's brains," the Radio Station "Ekho Moskvy" reports.

"I came here as a citizen - the citizen responsible, worried about the fate of his country, which after the December elections became sad and hopeless," said rally participant Serzh Golovach, the artist, the blogger, and the member of the International Union of Journalists. "Votes had been stolen - it is clear."

"We are against the falsified elections that took place on December 4," said Sergey, a representative of the Federation of Russian Motorists. "We are against manipulations at the elections. We are against the fact votes were taken off the parties participated in the elections in favour of the 'Edinaya Rossiya' (United Russia) Party."

Valery Sergeev, choreographer and producer, together with his companion Natalia, an observer for the parliamentary elections, came to the protest action for the third time.

"The so-called 'roundabout' worked at electoral precincts," said Valery Sergeev. "Its operating doctrine is as following: the so-called 'team leaders' - people from councils and prefectures - arrive at electoral precincts and organize the very 'roundabout'. Several groups of people arrive at electoral precincts in their district. All 'voters' have at their hands absentee ballots with special marks. Apart from their ballots, they are given other ten ballots, and they put ticks opposite the "Edinaya Rossiya", fold them in half and throw them into the ballot box. After that, the 'roundabout team' goes to another place."

According to Valery Sergeev, the work is being paid: each member of the "roundabout team" is paid 1000 roubles for every 70 votes. As a rule, people engaged in this "business" are not from Moscow. "The people, whom we 'caught' in the act, were residents of Mordovia, underage boys," said Valery Sergeev. "They recruit such a contingent consciously, so that in case of being caught the boys would not suffer any legal liability."

However, according to Valery Sergeev, even when adult members of the "roundabout" were caught in acts, no penalties were incurred.

"In my memory, this is the most mass protest since 1991," says Valery Sergeev. "I believe that magnitude of the event will urge the authorities to think and review the fraudulent results of the elections."

Blogger Maxim hardly believes that the rally in Bolotnaya Square may result in cancellation of the election results; however, he came to the protest action to urge the authorities to understand that they should not treat their people like that.

Alexander Khramov, the coordinator of the "Russian Civil Union", believes that the protest actions have already succeeded. "On December 5, 6000 persons went in the streets, on December 6 - 1000 persons," continues Alexander Khramov. "All paddy wagons are full. All IVSs (temporary detention facilities) are overcrowded, and there is no place to keep detainees. The authorities are afraid, and they realized that such a situation could not continue in the country anymore."

Let us note that, according to various estimates, from 50,000 to 150,000 persons participated in the rally of people discontented at the election outcomes held in Moscow. The event took place without incidents.

Participants of the rally in Bolotnaya Square put forward five demands to the authorities: resignation of Vladimir Churov, the head of the Central Election Commission (CEC), and investigation into his activities, cancellation of the results of the conducted parliamentary elections, appointment of new fair elections, investigation into all facts of falsification of the election results at each electoral precinct, and changes into the law on registration of political parties that would allow registration of all oppositional parties.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that, after the protest actions held in Moscow and Saint Petersburg on December 5, 6 and 7, during which hundreds of people were detained, social networks have created about 100 communities of cities, calling people discontented at outcomes of the elections to the State Duma to attend rallies on December 10. Residents of the Southern Federal District (SFD) and the North-Caucasian Federal Districts (NCFD) also planned to participate in rallies.

On December 10, residents of a number of cities of the NCFD and the SFD participated in the all-Russian protest action against the results of the elections to the State Duma conducted on December 4. In particular, the protest actions were held in Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Stavropol, Makhachkala, Pyatigorsk and other cities of southern Russia.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondents were on the scene, and they were monitoring the situation in real time in Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, and Makhachkala.