Dagestani truckers name five demands to authorities (+video)

Apart from abolishing the “Platon” system, the authorities must abolish the transport tax, justify the rate of fuel excises, solve the problem with the weight control of trucks, put in order the rationing of work and rest hours for heavy truck drivers. These are the demands presented by Dagestani truckers at the meeting with Gadjimet Safaraliev, a State Duma MP. The MP has refused to come to the venue of the meeting today, the truckers said.

Abdurashid Samadov, a truckers’ representative, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the MP Safaraliev met today a delegation of the protesting truckers.

"We were told that our demands had been brought to certain instances; and at the moment they were considered there; but to elaborate a decision, they need quite a long time," Samadov said.

The truckers’ interests were also represented by Abas Akaev, who is convinced that "this meeting was of a formal nature."

Meanwhile, the protesters’ camp located near the village of Manas was visited by the journalist Maxim Shevchenko, a member of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights under the President of Russia. According to his version, despite the fact that "the authorities are trying to politicize the process, the protesters have put forward the economic demands only."

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