What kind of democratic developments for Russia?

Participants: Bart Staes and Garry Kasparov

Staes. Pressures and intimidations on you and your party; you said you feared for your life; you have been appointed by your coalition as presidential candidate.

Kasparov. The situation is getting worse; this is the failure of the system created in the nineties; Putin's decision to become head of the list violates the principle that the president is the guarantor above all the parties and not a member of one of them; in the nineties candidates accepted the distribution of functions; democratic institutions have been turned into mere decoration useful for Putin to keep his place among civilised nations; this vacuum can last for a long time; all parties regardless of their place still live according to the fashion of the nineties, they will all disappear; Putin's attempt is to privatise the country through the elimination of democratic institutions; in the present regime there are elements of feudalism, Latin American dictatorship, of Mussolini's corporate state and loyalty to the leaders; the aim of this regime is to nationalise the expenses and privatise the profits; the gap between rich and poor is widening every day; a few hundreds richest family control most of the richness of Russia and its GDP; no doubt that Putin needs stronger and stronger control; those who say that this regime is necessary for the transition are fooling themselves; dividing Yeltsin's from Putin's years is wrong; still looking for a national identity; Putin is the consequence and the follow-up of Putin; with this managed democracy; any action of opposition is getting increasingly difficult; why Russia's opposition is still divided? Take a look at the nature of opposition: those who belong to the politics of the nineties are not really in opposition; opposition should try to do its job, in reality they play the game; over these years it was a failure; these elections will close the circle; today there is only one key element: to build or restore democracy; all talks about trying to get concessions from the regime are useless; the regime is making electoral rules tougher and tougher; our opposition is the best thing we could do: all together no matter whether from left or right in order to restore democracy; many difficulties and also unwillingness of those who called themselves democrats to engage in real opposition; we must not apply double standards; bringing together liberals and radical left we succeeded in create a democratic spirit; often no venues for our meetings, pressure and intimidation on our people; many people of our bloc facing lots of problems, false accusations, forced hospitalisation in psychiatric centres; "The other Russia" is now enemy number one for the Kremlin; they accuse us of being extremist but all we want is to be part of the political process; to be a registered party means that you already made some concessions to the regime; except for the Communist party with its old members all the other parties have problems as for the minimum required number of members (50.000); the registration process is the test for loyalty; Kremlin is rewarding with the right of participation to the elections only those parties who are loyal; Kasyanov's position is to boycott these elections and participate in presidential elections; United Russia decided today not to participate in the debates on television and political debates have been moved from prime time; Duma is not a real parliament but a political forum; only three parties very likely will make it: United Russia, Communists and maybe Just Russia; Zhirinosky will not make it because he is not needed anymore; we want to offer the potential source of legitimacy in case for crisis; we are on the brink of a crisis; in Russia the government is not listening to public demands; we don't want to repair the system but to replace it.

Questions by Cohn-Bendit (will you take part in presidential elections? In which way another system can grow?), Truepel (strategic partnership without sharing values: how can it be possible? What do you thing about the independence of Kosovo?) and Kallenbach (how can your voice be heard in Russia and in the Kremlin?

Kasparov. In December after most parties are wiped out we can understand what our potential is; collecting 2 million signatures in a period in 2 months is impossible but for us it is a chance to communicate with people; yes, it is difficult to be heard in Russia but we have no alternative; people are gradually expressing interest about us; I support liberal democracy contrary to those who challenged it in the nineties; presidential powers must be reduced; we must reduce the gap between rich and poor; the economic policy must be decided by the parliament; our coalition is based on the recognition of universal liberal democratic values; Bolsheviks, who are part of "The other Russia" coalition, never took part in violent actions; as to Kosovo any immediate solution could cause a problem in Russia and could not be explained to Abkhazians for example; according to the polls Abkhazia is more important for Russians than the Olympic games in Sochi; no strategic partnership with those who don't share your values; Putin is acting like Lukashenko; inviting Putin to take part in the G7 club was a mistake, no democratic recognition should be given to him.

Questions by Beck (where do you get he money for your campaign? Your alliance with Bolsheviks is questionable because they are suspected of racism), Lunacek (all the political families in the EU see Putin as a strategic partner) and Cramer (do you think NATO's enlargement is a threat to Russia? Was the Orange revolution promoted by the American or a genuine democratic movement?

Kasparov. No free and fair elections in Russia otherwise nationalist parties would get more than 25% of the votes; I never compromised with Bolsheviks, it is them who accepted our platform, I did not move an inch; we have little support in the country but things are changing; I hope that the collapse of the regime will not end up in the collapse of the country like in the nineties; we expected the EU to say something about Putin's plans to stay in power; Putin is a KGB guy, his intentions are never displayed ahead of time; he is surrounded by circumstances that go beyond his control; the Orange revolution was confirmed by the following 2 elections and Ukraine did not collapse after the revolution; Ukraine enjoys elections with unpredictable results compared to us; not much money available for our campaign, no support for our demands but I see that there is a growing interest by the public opinion.

Questions by Hautala (investigation on Polytkovskaia's murder), Harms (lot of American money in support of the Orange revolution but it was not decisive) and Horacek (Kodorkhovski's case).

Kasparov. The investigation on Politkovskaia's murder is looking increasingly as a mockery, we will never hear anything as long as Putin stays in power; the question of Yukos is linked to this one and it shows the injustice of our judicial system; people were forced to testify against Kodorkhovski; this symbolises the end of the independence of the judiciary in Russia; as to Ukraine I am not aware to say how much American money was invested there but if it were so it would not even be 5% of what Russia invested there; Ukraine never experienced the destruction of democratic institutions; scenarios cannot be repeated, this regime in Russia cannot make it to 2012; we must try not to pay the price for this corrupt and inefficient regime.