No to NATO, Afghan drugs and WTO: Communist anger spills into Russian streets

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Published time: April 07, 2012 11:17
Edited time: April 07, 2012 17:59

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Conflict, Drugs, Military, NATO, Opposition, Politics, Protest, Russia, Scandal

Communists have taken to the streets all across Russia to protest against the outcome of the presidential elections, WTO membership and “NATO bases” in Russia.

The biggest rally has unfolded on Pushkin Square in the Russian capital. The event drew about 1,500 people, reports say. The crowd was protesting what they call “NATO military bases” in the Russian city of Ulyanovsk and demanded political reforms.

They also slated Russian past presidential elections as “unfair” and demanded that the head of the Russian Central Election Committee, Vladimir Churov, resign. To highlight their cause, the communist activists sent dozens of balloons in the sky.

Communist rally in Moscow (RIA Novosti / Ramil Sitdikov)

Russia’s Communist Party pledged to take over 2 million people on streets on Saturday in dozens Russian cities including Moscow, Irkutsk, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and others.

In the northeastern Russian city of Magadan, communists gathered a small group repeating demands against deployment of what they call “NATO bases” in Ulyanovsk.

The call was supported by another rally, in the Siberian city of Irkutsk. The protesters, including communists and nationalists, also demanded fair elections in Russia and spoke against Russian membership in the World Trade Organization.

Another rally took place in the city of Penza, in central Russia. Several dozen activists gathered in front of the local theater, waving flags and banners and shouting slogans “free education” and “no motherland sellout!”

Meanwhile, seven activists were arrested for trying to organize an unsanctioned rally in the city of Ivanovo, some 300km northeast of Moscow. All of them were later released.

Russian and American authorities are negotiating the possibility of a NATO air transit point in Ulyanovsk.

Russia’s Deputy foreign minister stressed earlier that there is no talk of setting up any kind of NATO military base in Ulyanovsk, only a logistics facility. No NATO troops or other personnel will be present in Russia, the Foreign Ministry announced.

According to the governor of the Ulyanovsk Region, Sergey Morozov, all cargo coming from Afghanistan to NATO countries and vice-versa will be transported by Russian air carriers. The cargo will be carefully checked by Russian customs for the presence of drugs.

The city of Ulyanovsk bears a special significance to communists, being the birthplace of the Soviet communist icon Vladimir Lenin. They say that letting NATO in would come as a “betrayal” and furthermore will bring more Afghan drugs into Russia.

“With all those cargoes there is always a flow of drugs,” leader of the Communist Party Gennady Zyuganov said on Monday. “Everyone knows that.”

Communist rally in Moscow (RIA Novosti / Ramil Sitdikov)

Communist rally in Moscow (RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich)

Comments (57)

Tomek (unregistered) 11.04.2012 10:18

History often repeats itself, vide Nazi-USSR alliance and later Nazis attack on Russia. This case will be identical!

Undo

Donald 09.04.2012 22:53

&n bsp; Russian: I find that I am giving + clicks to the majority of your comments, but also some - clicks to a few of them. You are right that the US/NATO axis would like nothing better than to sow animosity between Russia and China. They know and they fear that the only potential entity standing between them and complete global suzerainty is a new entente between these powers, which would inevitably co-i ncide with a de facto re-establishment of the USSR with the inclusion of several former Soviet republics such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc. The US/NATO axis`s long-term foreign policy is still based upon the century-old Mackinder Heartland theory of geopolitics and their aim is to create as many wars as possible on the Eurasian landmass to prevent its consolidation. &nbs p; One point on which I disagree with you is when you equate the Communists with Gorbachev and Yeltsin. The fact is that these two opportunists deliberately destroyed the security system developed by previous Soviet leaders from Lenin to Brezhnev. The USSR, and by extension Russia, reached the zenith of its global influence, power, and security under the Communists, all in the name of peace. When Brezhnev was in power, the biggest nightmare of the geo-strategic planners of the US/NATO axis was that Soviet land forces would eventually be able to "wash their boots in the Indian Ocean." The way they have been going in the last 25 years, the only place they will eventually have left to wash their boots will be the Volga River.

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Russian (unregistered) 09.04.2012 02:12

NWO: Thanks. Regarding Russophobia in corporate German media. Look into the ownership of these outlets and you will discover many interesting things.

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