RT photo / Vitaliy Matveev

Translate in Russian/Читайте в русском

Background and Recent Developments on Moscow Protest (История вопроса и последние события на протест Москвы

While Russia prepares itself for a change in government with new elections, many people believe with the same party and same duo (Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Medvedev) there is actually no change at all.

Russia is seeing one of the biggest protest in recent Russian history in Moscow. The protest began after the results of Russia's parliamentary results on December 4 which saw Putin's United Russia win a majority.

Initially estimates of the demonstrators numbers ranged from 5,000 to 10,000 as reported by Associate Press, interior ministry reports that the number of protesters could have exceeded to 25,000 while opposition parties claims the number is well around 40,000 during the rally held on December 10 at Bolotnaya Square in central Moscow. Entry to the Red square was restricted while other squares near Kremlin were blocked by the local Moscow Police.

Police trucks, interior ministry troops, paramilitary forces was a common sight on the streets of Moscow to control any aggressive outbreak among the protesters. Carrying white ribbons, balloons and flowers protesters raised slogans against Putin, "Russia without Putin" and "Putin Go Away".

Putin has done various things to bring Russia out of the turmoil after the breakdown of Soviet Union. Russia's economy was in mess and a weaker Russia could have further become a victim of aggressive diplomacy by west. Today Russia once again stands on the internarional platform as a super power and is compared to US and China. Russia is taken together by the eyes of the world leaders as fastest growing economies along with India, China and Brazil.

Putin has done a lot for Russia, but there is a lot which people had expected out of him. Experts and aware Russian people believes that the power is too centralized in the country and that around 80% of President Dmitri Medvedev's rule of laws are ignored or are partially implemented by the regions; finally, very few people trust the power structure he has established in the country.

In a meeting with Valdai club where all these allegations were raised, Putin said, ""I tell you, I agree. I don't object to anything you have said." Vladimir Putin is keen on bringing clear democracy in the country.

He explained further that when he became the president of Russia almost 11 years ago, the state of the country was not good and the country seemed to be going in a wrong path. After the breakup of USSR and the political turmoil in the next term brought the nation into so much chaos that it was leading to a civil war. He had to go for a system of "manual control" over the regions, abolishing elections and choosing governors was done carefully to bring the situation back on the track. Now when he believes that the situation and economy is back on track, he is willing to decentralize the power. As he said speaking to a meeting of the Valdai Club, "it is time to devolve certain powers and taxation back to the regions." (Read More: Putin to Decentralize Power in Russia; Admits Unpopularity).

American State Interference and Possible Influence on Moscow Protests (Американского вмешательства государства и возможное влияние на протесты Москвы)

At the time when Russia is tackling this internal problem, American media and leader didn't miss the opportunity to comment on this in their own flavour and style. Recently, Hilary Clinton has dubbed these elections as fake and called for "full investigation of all credible reports of electoral fraud and manipulation" she concluded that “The Russian people, like people everywhere, deserve the right to have their voices heard and their votes counted.”

Putin in a response said that Hilary's this comment has given a signal to his opponents and they have began their active work with the support of US State Department.

"We need to think about strengthening the law and holding more responsible those who carry out the task of a foreign government to influence our internal political process," he said accusing US state department of spending hundreds of millions of dollars in Russia to stage a protest.

Addressing supporters in a television meeting, Putin said, "We are the largest nuclear power, and our partners have certain concerns and shake us so that we don't forget who is the master of this planet, so that we remain obedient and feel that they have leverage to influence us within our own country."

He further added "especially unacceptable is the infusion of foreign money into the electoral process."

Many among the protesters and in US believe that Putin's response to Hilary Clinton's comment is rubbish as he has no proof to prove this. The Washington Post said, "The Putin regime has been trying to play on anti-American sentiment since before the election; now it is doubling down." There major feeling is that Putin is raising anti America sentiments to raise the supporters as well as public confidence in him.

When Hilary Clinton was asked to respond to Mr. Putin’s remarks, she said that “we value our relationship with Russia” but also “have a strong commitment to democracy and human rights. It’s part of who we are. It’s our values. And we expressed concerns that we thought were well-founded about the elections.”

Back in Russia, State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee head Konstantin Kosachev believes that America has got a right opportunity at the right time to play a political game against Russia, citing that he was “very much surprised” by Hillary Clinton’s recent remarks. “They were very much out of the framework drafted in a preliminary conclusion by the parliamentary assemblies of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) and the Council of Europe, issued the day after the elections." he said adding that her comments were “not free of the United States' political interests,” as the US and Russia are rivals on many important issues.

“It is quite obvious that if and when you can create addition problems for your interlocutor," Kosachev told RT, "then it may be easier to reach your own goals. So, for me the statement by Hillary Clinton, some other statements by the EU, and by NATO and other high representatives in the West are just a part of the game.”

According to the Duma official as quoted by Russia's English language News Channel RT (Russia Today), this is not about democracy in Russia, nor is it about elections – the most important thing, he says, is “making Russia a little bit weaker in order to make yourself a little bit stronger – and this is absolutely unacceptable.” 

American Media's Interference and Influence on Moscow Protest (Американская Медиа вмешательства и влияния на протест Москвы)

US mainstream media has also not spared this opportunity of cracking down at Russia spilling the anger of cold war era. Fox News which is always at war with Russian media made its own story and showed fake pictures of protests in Russia to defame Russians, Russia, and its policies and governance.

The Washington post wrote in a tone that it is US administration's responsibility to "open the eyes of the Russian citizens" and should stand by them during this tough time and teach Putin to go "American way, "The Obama administration should go on pushing him [Putin] to choose the path of democratization, however unlikely that is; more important, it should keep telling the majority of Russians who just voted against the regime that the United States is on their side."

On the other hand, RT, Russia's English language news channel came up with an exclusive article on their website to uncover the  lies being shown by the FOX news to the US public and Russians in US.

Fox in their news report showed pictures of protests going on in other countries as the pictures and videos of protests in Moscow. When questioned by Russian media, Fox told that it is no doubt Moscow, But Muscovite (Moscow citizens) at TWR and Russia Today believes this can not be Moscow and one glance is enough to say that.

Still shot from FOX news video coverage of "Russian" protests, Katerina Azarova, RT (click to enlarge)

Reasons why this picture is not from Moscow:

• Phone box/Telephone Booth: In Moscow they are grayish-blue, and are few and between. The author at RT Katerina Azarova, said that in fact, she can’t even remember the last time she saw a public phone box, as now they are very rare in Moscow.
• Protesters Dress: The young couple pressed against the building? They’re dressed in jeans and long-sleeved tees, in Russia that too in December, it is not possible. People in Moscow wear thermals, ski jackets, hats and gloves in winters.
• Sign Boards: And this one is the strongest evidence, if you zoom at the image properly you will see a Greek National Bank signboard that too in Greek, in Russia Greek is not understood.

Close-up of the Greek National Bank sign/still shot from video, Katerina Azarova, RT

The author in her final comments wrote, "FOX, it appears, isn’t satisfied with the "Real" Russian rallies. They wanted a "Bang!" But there were no bangs, so I figure they thought “hey, it’s police running after people and fires and chaos – who on earth will be able to tell the difference?” So they took videos from Athens, put a ‘’Russia” comment on screen – and voila, stick a fork in ‘em, they’re done." She further added, "I don’t harbor any hopes that the FOX people will see this and suddenly change their “errant ways”. But for the viewers – there are no palm trees in the streets of Moscow, the Prime Minister is spelled ‘PuTin’, not ‘PuTTin’ and the plural for ‘protester’ is ‘protesterS’. For future references."

Watch Russia Today's television report of the above news

Please share and join the discussion on facebook by clicking the "Like" below. Want to Add to this Story?