12/7/2006- Despite a concerted government effort to keep them from meeting, hundreds of opposition leaders and activists convened Tuesday for an unprecedented conference meant to dispel the happy image of a democratic Russia that the Kremlin plans to broadcast during the G8 summit. "The Other Russia" conference immediately precedes the summit of the Group of Eight heads of state in St. Petersburg, renowned for being Russia's window on Europe. The Other Russia, taking place in Moscow, ends Wednesday; the G8 summit begins Friday. On Tuesday, authorities massed more than 100 riot police and dozens of barking German shepherds outside the Renaissance Hotel, where the event was held. They also posted a metal detector. Meanwhile, reporters from state-controlled television stations were nowhere to be seen, while journalists from Western countries, Japan and Latin America bearing notepads, television cameras and long-range lenses turned up. "We want to send the message that the West should not believe what Kremlin officials are going to tell them at the G8 summit," said Garry Kasparov, the chess champion-turned-liberal reformer and one of the conference organizers. "Putin should stop pretending that he is the leader of a democratic country," Kasparov added. "There is a completely different Russia that wants its voice to be heard." Kasparov spoke to reporters between crammed conference sessions that many attendees were forced to watch on television screens outside the main hall.
The first day of the meeting drew ultranationalist Eduard Limonov, head of the National Bolshevik Party; Viktor Anpilov, head of the Working Russia party and an open admirer of Josef Stalin; and liberal leaders such as former presidential candidate Irina Khakamada and former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, among many others. Also crowded into the hotel's hot and smoke-filled conference facilities were government representatives from the United States, Britain, Canada and other countries, and a hodgepodge of so-called ordinary people who have a gripe with the Kremlin, including the mother of a man killed after Chechen rebels took over the Dubrovka theater in October 2002. The eclectic mix of politics and personal styles -- with Limonov sporting his signature spectacles, Kasyanov donning a pressed suit, and Khakamada exuding the air of a seasoned campaigner -- reflected opposition figures' need to unite against the Kremlin, said Georgy Satarov, head of the Indem think tank and another conference organizer. The conference also represented an important opportunity for NGOs and opposition groups to speak out in a country where the airwaves are controlled by the state, said Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki group. "The Other Russia" comes at a time when dissent is steadily being squeezed out of Russian politics: Recent measures spearheaded by the Kremlin and the State Duma bar parties from forging coalitions and running candidates with other affiliations. Reformers say both measures compromise opposition forces' electoral prospects.
Also, to qualify for elections, parties must now have more members than in times past, and a new anti-extremism law is likely to be used to sideline any candidate deemed threatening to the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, critics contend. A new law dictates that the country's 450,000 NGOs register with the Justice Ministry, which will closely monitor their financial activities. Veteran human-rights activist Sergei Kovalyov of the group Memorial accused authorities of projecting a false image of a democratic Russia. In recent weeks, President Vladimir Putin has given prominent speeches praising the independent press, NGOs and U.S. President George W. Bush. Satarov further accused authorities of barring many would-be attendees from reaching the conference, saying activists had been forcibly taken off trains or arrested, or had drugs or explosives planted on them. Some activists, Satarov said, were beaten. United Russia did its part to help steer attention away from "The Other Russia," organizing its own business forum, with the lobbying group Delovaya Rossia. The forum featured several government officials. And outside the hotel, not far from the militia, the pro-Kremlin Nashi youth group held a rally decrying opposition leaders' effort, they said, to create an unfavorable impression of Russia. "They are doing their best to try to make sure this conference doesn't take place," Satarov said, noting that the camouflage-clad security forces outside showed up uninvited.
Although Igor Shuvalov, Russia's G8 envoy, had said Moscow would regard Western officials' attendance at "The Other Russia" as an "unfriendly gesture," British Ambassador Antony Brenton and Daniel Fried, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for European affairs, among others, came. Fried said that, far from being an unfriendly gesture, American officials were simply interested in Russian civil society. "I'm impressed that [attendees] really believe in democracy," he said. Alexei Simonov, head of the Glasnost Defense Foundation, said authorities were fearful of the future. Marina Litvinovich, an activist and public-relations specialist who was mysteriously beaten unconscious this year, told attendees she hopes none of them encounter the same fate she did. It was left to Tatyana Karpova, whose son died at the Dubrovka theater, to remind activists of the very personal implications of living in a country where authorities, she said, do not believe they are accountable to the people. "The powers that be have been pulling our leg for years -- nobody has been punished for this terrorist attack," Karpova said. "But beginning this year, we don't belong anymore to that category of citizens who listen to the authorities."
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