Second picket in support of Balkars held in Moscow

On November 21, in Bolotnaya Square, Moscow, the second pre-planned picket was held in support of the Balkars, who continue their protest action for many days already in Manezh Square.

The picket was attended by about sixty persons - Balkar and Karachai youth, who expressed their bewilderment and disappointment with the federal authorities, who give no reaction to the action of Balkar activists, which continues for more than four months already. Several elderly men, the eldest of which is over seventy, are for more than 140 days already day-and-night in Manezh Square, enduring hardships and bad weather, while their short petition to Russian President with a demand of economic and political equality for the Balkar people has received no clear answer.

One of the picketers, an activist of the group, expressed his opinion on the problem: "The Republic has two subject-forming districts. The Balkar part of the republic is mountainous. There are land plots around every village. In the past, the villages themselves managed these land plots. Local authorities decided what to do with them - whether to give them out into lease, build a farm, pasture animals or use for other purposes. However, in 2005, with adoption of the Federal Law No. 131, those lands passed over as inter-village territories under the jurisdiction of republic's authorities. This was against the Constitution; and villagers lost their right to influence the fate of the land. Now, if a farmer wants to pasture, he goes not to the administration of his village or district, but directly to Nalchik, to regional bureaucrats for a permit. Not always, they decide on the problem."

"Besides, the money for land rent and citizens' taxes, earlier spent to repair roads and develop the infrastructure, now go not to the village budget, but to the treasury of the subject," said the activist. "The result of this policy is that local Russian and Balkar villages receive much less funds and benefits than Kabardian ones.

"This does not mean, of course, that we can talk about confrontation of nations. People understand this. But the authorities often benefit from presenting the situation in the form of a conflict; they profit from it," picketers noted.

The militiamen, who supervised the action, were very carefully searching all the entrants through a metal frame.