Prospects for the emergence of an opposition in Russia

In the article “Constitutional Platform”, published in the publication “Gazeta.Ru” on February 14, 2005, special correspondent of the Kommersant Publishing House Dmitry Butrin discusses the prospect of creating an opposition in Russia.

The prerequisites for such opposition exist; these are basic political rights and freedoms, which are currently being violated in one way or another.

“Actually, the platform of the “non-ideological opposition” has already been formulated and is a political position... No matter how banal it may sound, these are democracy, democratic and free elections, equality of all before the law and an independent judiciary, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and demonstration , presumption of innocence... The fact that these freedoms in Russia are currently limited... is becoming clear to an increasing number of citizens,” writes D. Butrin.

The Russian opposition in the near future will not be right or left, it will be non-ideological. And directed against the usurpation by power of the rights and freedoms of citizens that it did not give them.

“And if we want politics to appear in Russia, we cannot do without “meta-opposition,” i.e., ideas that are shared by all opposition political forces,” the author concludes.

Sources

• Butrin D. Constitutional platform // Gazeta.Ru. 2005. February 14.