A Counterrevolution Made to Order

I breathed a sigh of relief following the protests in the State Duma last Wednesday, when opposition members walked out in protest over the results of the Oct. 11 nationwide elections. After the walkout, I found a number of  pro-United Russia zakazukha articles — those articles that interested parties pay newspapers to publish — in my favorite newspapers such as Izvestia, Moskovsky Komsomolets, Nezavisimaya Gazeta and Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Why was I so happy to see the zakazukha articles appear? First, it is a sign that Russia still has a free press. If it didn’t, the authorities would have simply forced editors to put the “correct” spin on the opposition protests. In the current situation, the people producing these packaged-to-sell articles pay the newspapers handsomely to publish them without encroaching on their editorial freedom.

The second reason to celebrate is the speed with which the zakazukha articles appeared. They reached newspapers only a few hours after opposition members staged their protests in the Duma. In that brief interval, United Russia spin doctors managed to write and publish articles reflecting a coordinated point of view — that the protesters are nothing but lazy slackers flouting the interests of voters who put them in the Duma to work on passing laws. This testifies to the ruling parties’ high level of preparedness for mobilizing against any attempt at a “color revolution.”

Meanwhile, Oleg Mitvol, prefect for the Northern Administrative District, acted decisively on behalf of offended Soviet veterans when he forced the small Antisovetskaya (Anti-Soviet) cafe to change its name to Sovetskaya. In addition, after human rights activist and journalist Alexander Podrabinek’s published his article “Letter to Soviet Veterans,” which was full of scathing insults aimed at those same veterans, the pro-Kremlin Nashi youth group picketed outside Podrabinek’s apartment and forced him into hiding. A week ago, Mitvol’s and Nashi’s vigilance would have looked completely absurd. Now, in the wake of the Duma protests, it looks like normal training measures carried out by the government’s counterrevolutionary forces.

What is so frightening about a “color revolution” occurring in Russia? To answer that question, just take a look at how Ukraine and Georgia have been faring over the past few years. Compare former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze with current President Mikheil Saakashvili, or post-Orange Revolution Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko with former President Leonid Kuchma. It is clearly in everyone’s best interests to nip all revolutionary tendencies in the bud.

A revolution cannot be averted simply by publishing a few zakazukha articles. United Russia should look at the experience of other states, particularly Belarus. A Belarus opposition journalist told me that President Alexander Lukashenko had actually collected more than the officially reported 82.6 percent of the vote during the 2006 presidential elections. But he fudged the real figure downward to avoid irritating the opposition too much and to create a more “democratic” picture for foreign observers.

That is an excellent approach that would be well-suited for Russia, too.

Alexei Pankin is the editor of WAN-IFRA-GIPP magazine for publishing business professionals.