First speed

On September 5, as planned, the next meeting of the organizing committee of “The Other Russia” was held in Moscow. On the same day, activists of the Nashi movement began an indefinite picketing of the British Embassy. They are demanding an apology from British Ambassador to Russia Anthony Brenton for his participation in the first Other Russia conference. Nashi advertised its decision to put pressure on a foreign diplomat, and at the same time on the opposition coalition, as best they could - central newspapers talked about it, federal TV channels showed stories on this topic. Rumors spread across Moscow that there was some kind of unspoken agreement between the pro-presidential youth movement and the coalition of opposition forces. They say that “The Other Russia” ordered and paid for this PR.

In principle, of course, thanks to “Ours” - today the opposition does not have too many media opportunities, and an extra mention in the press will not hurt it at all. I can tell the leaders of “Nashi” in confidence that the next meeting of the organizing committee of “The Other Russia” will be held on September 25th. If by this time they prepare some other funny event, it will be not bad at all.

Meanwhile, I want to assure both the Russian public and the British government that the organizing committee of “The Other Russia” did not make any consolidated decisions on the financing of this youth movement. Moreover, I know nothing about any contacts between the opposition leaders and the leadership of Nashi, under whose simple accompaniment the first meeting after the holidays took place.

Let me make a reservation right away: the leaders of various social movements and organizations who gathered in one of the Moscow hotels carefully avoided the term “opposition coalition” in conversations with journalists. They say that there is no “political coalition” yet, but there is a negotiating platform where “various scenarios” are discussed. Well, a playground, a playground. It is clear that such a desire not to rush things is due to a number of objective factors. Indeed, no coalition agreement has been signed yet. In addition, we should not forget that the “Other Russia” is a complex cocktail of political and public organizations that objectively function in different modes. Yes, “The Other Russia” brings together people who are ready to resist what they consider to be harmful trends in the development of Russian society. But the methods and forms of this confrontation will obviously be chosen according to the social status of a particular organization. It is important to note here that we are not talking about ideological differences, but exclusively about formal activities. By the next meeting of the organizing committee, the president of the Social Contract Institute, Alexander Auzan, will prepare a draft of these delineations. In addition, on September 25th Stanislav Belkovsky will make his proposals for carrying out specific street actions.

Overall, it seems to me that the first autumn meeting of the organizing committee was quite successful. No one dropped out of the ring - moreover, a representative from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, a member of the Central Committee of this party, Boris Kashin, was present at the meeting, and even spoke on one of the issues discussed. One of them – the attitude of “The Other Russia” to the next election cycle – will be discussed in more detail at the next meeting of the organizing committee.

In a word, “The Other Russia” has turned on first gear and is slowly moving away. The main thing is that its leaders do not forget that they will still have to switch gears. You won't get far with the first one.