×
Enjoying ad-free content?
Since July 1, 2024, we have disabled all ads to improve your reading experience.
This commitment costs us $10,000 a month. Your support can help us fill the gap.
Support us
Our journalism is banned in Russia. We need your help to keep providing you with the truth.

Bolotnaya Activists Planned to Build 'Maidan' Camp in Moscow

A demonstration in central Moscow in support of the Bolotnaya defendants. Vedomosti

A Bolotnaya protester who made a plea agreement with prosecutors has testified in the trial of his co-defendants that the group was planning to set up a Ukraine-style protest camp in central Moscow.

At the trial of activists Sergei Udaltsov and Leonid Razvozzhayev, who are charged with organizing riots at an anti-Kremlin protest that took place at Bolotnaya Ploshchad in May 2012, Konstantin Lebedev also said the protest organizers had received more than $150,000 from their backers, Novaya Gazeta reported.

Some of the money was handed over by a Georgian diplomat in Lithuania, Lebedev said, echoing the Kremlin's accusations that anti-government demonstrations in Russia are supposedly funded by Western and pro-Western governments.

Lebedev, whose plea bargain last spring earned him a 2.5-year prison sentence instead of the maximum 10-year sentence he was facing, said his fellow protesters were planning to set up a "micro-Maidan" tent camp — referring to the location and symbol of Ukraine's anti-government protests.

"We were ready for massive disorder, because a 'micro-Maidan' was inevitably going to lead to some kind of consequences," Lebedev said, Interfax reported.

"As for massive disorder, we are not hooligans, we did not want anything like that. We understood that clashes may take place, but we were not going to create them intentionally," he said.

As the clashes broke out before any kind of a protest camp was set up, Lebedev blamed the violence on the "irresponsible actions of the liberal junta."

Lebedev pointed out opposition leaders Alexei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov, Garry Kasparov and Yevgenia Chirikova as the main culprits, Interfax reported.

"These are the people who made decisions. But maybe there was somebody else as well," Lebedev said.

Fellow protesters have called Lebedev a "traitor" for making a plea agreement with the prosecution. But he has countered by saying the accusations come from people who have never faced "anything scarier than diarrhea," and that he had to accept a shorter prison sentence instead of serving out 10 years and "being left with no health and no teeth."

Contact the author at newsreporter@imedia.ru

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Our weekly newsletter contains a hand-picked selection of news, features, analysiss and more from The Moscow Times. You will receive it in your mailbox every Friday. Never miss the latest news from Russia. Preview
Subscribers agree to the Privacy Policy

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."

These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.

By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.

Once
Monthly
Annual
Continue
paiment methods
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.

Read more