Protest activeness of truckers in Southern Russia goes down

The protest of truckers, who oppose the introduction of truck tolls on federal highways, continues only in Dagestan out of the regions of Southern Russia. No more than 60 persons are still striking near Khasavyurt. Other regions of the Southern Federal District (SFD) and North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) see no active protests; however, to achieve their goals, truckers unite into independent trade unions.

Within the strike, Dagestan has become one of the most active regions. The first action took place in the republic on October 14 in Makhachkala, with the participation of about 200 drivers of heavy vehicles. A month later, drivers' protests became regular.

As of November 18, according to the inter-regional trade union of truckers, more than 17,000 were on strike in the republic.

Truckers of the Volgograd Region are actively defending their position against the "Platon" system. Their protests began on November 11.

On November 29, a column of 11 heavy-duty trucks left Volgograd for Moscow; where most of them continued their strike near Moscow.

On November 25-30, in the Krasnodar Territory, the strike took place on the highway Kropotkin-Temryuk; then, some drivers went to Moscow. Most of the protesters dispersed in late November.

After a part of truckers left for Moscow, the Krasnodar Territory saw a sharp decline of the protest movement. As of November 29, about 70 heavy-duty trucks were still on the Kropotkin-Temryuk highway.

Some of the drivers interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" said that, instead of participating in protests, they are going to change their profession, finding this action useless.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.