Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, said to Interfax today that protest actions organized in Russia after December 4 elections to State Duma, are advantageous first of all for Communists. “I believe, it is not the West, and no one else but the Communists (CPRF),” the former head of FSB said answering the question who wins from those rallies. However, Patrushev did not specify on what ground he made such a conclusion and later, developing the topic, he passed on to more traditional assessments given during the last month by Russian authorities to populous rallies whose participants protested against falsification of elections. By these assessments, those protests are incited and funded from abroad. Earlier such an opinion has been voiced by Yury Chaika, Prosecutor General ofRussia, who believes the protests inRussia are funded from foreign sources and are supported by sites located in other countries.
If both statements are correct (concerning Communists and “foreign forces”), there seems to be an obvious contradiction here: apparently, in accordance with this logic, the protests are supported from abroad by the West. But in that case why would they support processes that play into the hands of Communists? Taking into account the fact, that there is no communist ideology inRussiain its classical form for a long time, and actually moderate nationalism is the case, the configuration may be even more interesting. It is possible that Russian authorities warn the West what the support of protests could lead to. This “message” cannot be considered completely senseless. After all, the West was supporting revolutions in Arab countries. Everyone knows the results today.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
