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Subscribe to RSSCrowds pack the streets of Russia in protest of the country's parliamentary elections on Tuesday. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
MOSCOW - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev urged Russian authorities to annul the results of the scandal-marred parliamentary election and hold a new vote, Russia's Interfax news agency reported Wednesday.
The news came a day after thousands of Russians rallied in Moscow and St. Petersburg and faced off with police and Interior Ministry troops, who detained and arrested hundreds of protesters, including journalists.
"The country's leaders have to admit that there were numerous falsifications and rigging and the results do not reflect the will of the people," Gorbachev told Interfax, according to the AFP.
"Therefore I think they can only take one decision — annul the results of the election and hold new ones."
Thousands of security forces were out in the Russian capital and helicopters roamed the sky Wednesday in a show of force following the protests over the election that saw Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's party struggle to keep a majority.
Putin officially registered on Wednesday to run for the presidency in March, but the unusually sustained protests of the past two days showed the indignation of the Russian opposition and suggested his drive to retake the job he held from 2000-2008 may not go as smoothly as expected.
The Russian Union of Journalists on Wednesday condemned police violence and called for a probe into the dozens of attacks and arrests of journalists, describing them as "an attempt to gag and intimidate society."
More opposition rallies were expected Wednesday, along with a pro-Putin gathering in central Moscow that had attracted a few hundred people so far.
Sunday's parliamentary vote suggested Russians are tiring of Putin and his United Russia party, which has strongly overshadowed all other political forces in Russia for the past dozen years and earned a reputation for corruption.
Preliminary results indicate the party won less than 50 percent of votes, a steep fall from its earlier majority. Opposition parties and international observers said the poll was marred by widespread reports and allegations of vote-rigging.
Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP - Getty Images
Police officers surround Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was detained while taking part in an unauthorized rally at the Triumfalnaya Square in central Moscow late on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Russia's foreign minister took a swipe at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday over her criticism of the election, saying it was "not Hyde Park" where speakers could just arrive, hold forth and leave without listening to others.
Clinton, visiting Lithuania Tuesday for a meeting of security body the OSCE, cited serious concerns about the weekend election.
"This is not Hyde Park, this is not Triumfalnaya (Triumph) Square in Moscow, where speakers arrive to pour out their soul and then turn around and leave, not listening to others," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters.
'Disrespect'
He was referring to London's Hyde Park and its famed "Speakers' Corner" and to the square in Moscow that was the site of Tuesday's protest over the parliamentary election.
Lavrov said Clinton's actions showed "disrespect" to the 56-member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has been holding a two-day meeting in Vilnius.
"Several of my colleagues prefer to use this tribune to complain (about issues) completely unrelated to the agenda as was the case with my colleague Hillary Clinton, who arrived, it seems, only to impress her voters in the Democratic party."
The Russian Foreign Ministry Tuesday dismissed the U.S. criticism as unacceptable and urged Moscow's ex-Cold War enemy to refrain from such "hostile attacks" in future.
Lavrov said Russia would prefer to resolve issues through a dialogue instead of using multinational meetings to vent criticism of each other.
Opposition galvanized
The allegations have fired up the opposition, which has long seen its protests crushed and its pleas ignored by the Kremlin-dominated media. On Facebook, more than 10,000 people signed up to a page announcing an opposition rally for Saturday.
Authorities said Tuesday that at least 51,500 police officers and 2,000 Interior Ministry troops have been deployed in Moscow since the election. Unlike the police, Interior Ministry troops are an armed force, largely manned by conscripts.
At least 300 people were detained by police at a protest in downtown Moscow on Tuesday night that included flare-type fireworks thrown at a group of pro-Kremlin youth, said city police spokesman Maxim Kolosvetov.
Russian news agencies reported about 200 were arrested at a similar attempt to hold an unsanctioned rally in St. Petersburg and another 25 in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. The Moscow protest ended after around 3 1/2 hours and the others were broken up by police.
Pro-Kremlin supporters put on a pair of large rallies in Moscow, attracting thousands and showing vehement divisions in Russian society. Protesters and government supporters shouted at each other, with the opposition chanting "Shame, shame" and the others, some of whom beat drums, yelling out "Putin victory."
Putin has downplayed the reduced majority, saying it was "inevitable" because voters always are unhappy with the party in power. He also dismissed allegations of corruption among his United Russia party members.
He also rejected the popular characterization of United Russia as "the party of crooks and thieves," saying corruption was a widespread problem not limited to a single party.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
I heard Bush Jr won the election, after a few recounts...
cbawl - Be thankful that we live in a country that believes in real numbers.
I am thankful when the laws are fairly written and fairly enforced. That is not always the case in the US.
It does not matter about the numbers if the winners are already picked.
It's true, numerous recounts showed the Dubya won the popular vote!
Obama won with acorn and votes from mickey mouse, dead people...they even offered ripple and Kools to anyone homeless needing a ride to the polls...
The only stipulation? Gotta vote democrat
My goodness, are people still upset Bush won the election? He won it fair and square. And just so people understand this, We the People do NOT live in a democracy. We live in a democratic republic. The popular vote in an election means NOTHING. What matters is who wins the most electoral votes. If Gore had won California with 100% of the vote, and 100% of the NY votes, yet Bush won every other state by 1 vote, Bush would still be the rightful winner of the election by a landslide even though under those circumstances Gore would have won the popular vote.
Know how our system works before you start complaining about things that aren't even relevant to it.
Do we, JK? Do we really?
If we did, W never would have gotten his first shot.
If you watch Fox, you've never seen a real number. In fact, and independent study found that people that watch fox "news" were double digit percentage points less informed about current events then people that watch no news at all.
The right wing keeps trying to tell us that 47% of us are the problem when 1% are the real issue.
So, do we live in a country the believes in real numbers? Do we really?
Dude, we haven't had democracy since the '30s, if ever, what we really have is Oligarchy!!
It's just too bad we cannot prove citizenship before vote is cast. Just another way the democrats continue to build their base.
What I find disgusting is that Communist's are fighting harder for freedom than we do. Get a good look at yourself in the mirror America. Which of those 2 faces should I slap first?
bulldog dude
and
You are just too clever... did you just think these absolute lies up yourself, or did you have help?
ACORN incented it's people to get voters, not to get "Democrat" voters... I know that first hand... the instructions were specific and carefully written. Did some get over zealous? Of course... but no more so than the Republicans. Here in Missouri we vote in church halls... where trash newspapers authored by the churches that had Obama in face-paint were allowed adjacent to the voting booths... where the GOP spend billions on road signs, local radio programs and ads, and local TV ads to sway the public with absolutely NO fact checking. Local establishments were paid to have FOXnews on at least one TV and to play it during every open hour. So let's please not get into "voter influencing" issues. In reality, ACORN is largely a weak volunteer organization.
Did you know that voter fraud was never proven on any kind of grand scale... contrary to what your FOX friends claim.
BTW, Gorbachev is looking pretty good of late... maybe we can fake some birth certificates for him and put him on the GOP ticket...
theCavalier - You need to be on Obama's short list for a possible appointment to the Supreme Court. It's a shame you weren't a Justice when Al Gore lost Florida. (who knows, Tipper might have stuck around if Gore had won) Brains like yours shouldn't be wasted. ps - I don't watch Fox news, I form my own opinions.
Barlow-1919963 Post 1.8 Did it go right over heads or do you need to define the meaning of the word?
Barlow-1919963 Post 1.8 Did it go right over heads or do you need to define the meaning of the word?
Hello??? Am I on the right page? Didn't this article have to do with Russia's politics??
Well, at any rate, Minister Lavrov said we should "...refrain from such hostile attacks in the future" referring to our commenting on their obviously crooked-as-hell, rigged voting. Hostile attacks? Hostile attacks? LOLOLOL Their English version of 'Pravda' was, for a brief time after the collapse, very interesting, informative, often entertaining and spiced with terrific, open Russian humor, until they started to report a little criticism & Putin shut it down again. An English-speaking "journalist," if you could call him that, was hired (I call him mouthpiece) to kick our proverbial *sses practically every day in print. That so-called journalist was/is either a transplanted American or Brit with pro-Communist tendencies or a Western-educated Russian given a Western name to make some kind of impact with the Russian people. I often wondered whether he relinquished his Western citizenship & became a Russian citizen. If he didn't, well, I guess he's basically a hypocrite AND traitor to BOTH countries. Needless to say, I long ago stopped reading it at all. Even though you won't hear too much direct anti-U.S. rhetoric from the Kremlin, they let their mouthpiece journalists do their dirty work for them. So, before Mr. Lavrov says we "attack," he should clean up the back-stabbing vitriol from that turncoat who writes (or wrote) for Pravda.
I heard that Obama made his way on to the Indiana ballot Chicago style.
And pot is introduced to kettle.
Gorby better watch out for the poison tea that the Kremlin serves.
To show that there were no hard feelings Putin sent Gorby a sushi platter.
Is this a Russian Spring? I don't think there have been protests like these since the coup back in the 90s.
Putin should call for hillary to "step down".
see that you capitalized Putin’s name and did do the same
for our Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Are you just being a typical disrespectful
teabagger or are you pro communist Putin? And you think Clinton should step down because she told the truth about Putin> WTF
Putin called hillary and they stepped out? wtf?
Wonder if our first black prez is aware?
You have a "strange" fixation regarding Mr. Obama, whose name you interject into every comment. Earlier, you attributed his election to bogus votes from Mickey Mouse, dead people, and homeless people who were given cigarettes. Nice to know that "normal", obsessed people like yourselves are voting too. It gives us hope and makes us proud to be part of that big, dysfunctional psychiatric experiment called "America", which shines its beacon forth onto a dark and seeking world. Well done.
Allow me to be sexist in the opposite direction to make Michael happy. putin Hillary. Hope you are happy somebody "righted" the wrong. By the way, I doubt you really needed to fling insults at the guy for his mistake in typing.
On a side note, just to have more fun, I'll also make sure it is noted that Obama is the 44th White president to hold office in the USA. To deny that is to deny 50% of his genetic makeup. Some would say it is extremely racist to still live by the old saying that a drop of black blood makes you black. So in reality, most "blacks" in this country are also likely "whites" too if you look at them genetically.
Sorry for the history lesson, but I wanted to prove we are all the same if you give it any thought at all. I can't wait for the day we can finally dump this garbage about race and finally realize race doesn't exist. It is a made up thing and depending on which country you live it, they may classify you differently. In America I'm either White, in Brasil, I'm not White, but not black either. I'm something else.
I do agree Hillary does deserve her name capitalized just like anybody else, but instead of jumping to some insulting conclusion, one should first assume a simple mistake.
"WE THE PEOPLE..."
People are tired of the corrupt Leadership around the world, The New world order is failing..
US Citizen - Oh, contare! The New World Order is yet to come! The way I see it, the world has to fail on a global, colossal scale before it can be reorganized under a unified planet. We will be broken into "zones" so countries like the US, China, Germany, and Russia can feel like they still control their corner of the universe, but will eventually submit to a single higher authority.
That, in my opinion, will be the "New" world order that will fail due to the same garbage that pollutes today. The future sure looks bleak to me!
US citizen-701707
I hope that you do not believe that the Newt World Order is going to be the answer to anything.
The uprising of the down-trodden has now officially become a global event. Class warfare? Perhaps. But it wasn't the "have-nots" who fired the first volley. What's left of the middle class and the growing masses of underprivileged and disadvantaged have been taking body blows for several years. It's time to get off the ropes and start counter punching.
Yeah, lots of downtrodden are rioting -- egged on by the paid goons of the New World Order globalist kings and barons, who plan on subduing the rioters with Excessive Force.
Boy, everything is up in the air with this situation in Russia. Looks more concerning then I first thought last week.
Banksters And Corporate Gangsters are the Enemy, Governments are their Authority to steal, They are their Mouth pieces.
Sounds like a preview showing of the upcoming 2012 US elections(s).......
If they do not have the best Intrest of the People, Then vote them out, Drop the party line and vote for the people that will work for all of us..
US-
Exactly who ARE these people we should vote for? We are given the choice between Corrupt Joe and Slimy Bob. It is not who we vote for, but who we are given as choices that is the problem.
All I can say is what a Citizen can do is get informed on all the Candidates look at all the them and vote with at least a well informed vote.
And cast a write-in for NONE OF THE ABOVE if that option isn't on your ballot. Join the Popular Amendment Movement and help work toward true Election/Campaign Finance Reform. Go to www.faircampaignreform.us to get involved. The second section of the amendment requires every candidate to sign a "contract with the voters" spelling out their exact position on every POSSIBLE issue that might face them if elected to office. They can then be held accountable in a court of law for breach of contract if they don't produce according to that contract. It also helps educate the voters on just who the hell they are voting for.
Voters can't hold these slimeballs accountable for anything; they re-write the laws to legalize their crimes.
...and this time how about we hire somebody with some experience in the field we are hiring him for?
Russia is a member of the UN Security Council as well as other "leagues" of top nations. We absolutley need to know if we are dealing with a legitimate country or not. If the Russian government is illegitimate, we need to know it and Dept. of State was correct to question it. If the Russian Foreign Ministry doesn't understand this then it shows they don't really understand democracy or freedom.
I'm not going to say America set the example in 2000, as tempting as it sounds. What I AM going to say is that it has gotten mighty hard for America to preach electoral perfection to any other nation.
The times have changed, and this wave of citizen discontent sweeping the globs has only yet to begin. As of right now, we have not entered the time of resource shortages, mass starvation, depleted fossil fuels, etc. The times are only going to get harder as entrenched interests harden, and the people suffer more.
Interesting to note: the world has never seen a worldwide revolution. That time may yet come.
Right you are Disgusted-in WV it's only the beginning!
-------- What is the SIGNIFICANCE of these Word-wide OWS demonstrations?------
Here are the Prophetic words by Tom Friedman, the famous journalist with “The New York Times” ::
“Now let me say that in English: the European Union is cracking up. The Arab world is cracking up. China’s growth model is under pressure and America’s credit-driven capitalist model has suffered a warning [major] heart attack and needs a total rethink. Recasting any one of these alone would be huge. Doing all four at once — when the world has never been more interconnected - is mind-boggling.
--- We are again present at the creation - but of what?
-------- [ Never in the history of modern man has such a global event ever happened ] -----
As for America, we’ve thrived in recent decades with a “credit-consumption-led economy”, whereby we maintained a middle class by using more steroids (easy credit, subprime mortgages and construction work) and less muscle-building (education, skill-building and innovation). It’s put us in a deep hole, and the only way to dig out now is a new, hybrid politics that mixes spending cuts, tax increases, tax reform and investments in infrastructure, education, research [innovation] and production. But that mix is not the agenda of either party. Either our two parties find a way to collaborate in the center around this new hybrid politics, or a third party is going to emerge
-------— or we’re stuck and the pain will just get worse”.
[ Of the three demanded activities, education, skill-building and innovation, –- none is financially or otherwise supported by our present Government. --- This omission is an act of National-suicide.]
That is so true Disgusted. The US, China, and India cannot continue to consume 75% of the world's natural NON-REPLACEABLE resources (fossil fuels, metals, etc.) and expect the earth to continue to exist with human occupants. We are rapidly destroying the planet, and the have-nots are growing in numbers world-wide because of the greed of the populace of these three countries.
What are the ramifications of a world revolution or even an attempted world revolution and can or is it being mitigated? The seeds have been sown in a fertile environment, fertilized by the internet. But, it’s easy for the NSA “and others” to monitor trends in behavior via “apps” such as Twitter, Face Book and the like, not to mention who knows what other bots have implanted.
Interesting!
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." Emma Goldman 1869 - 1940
Putin was right - United Russia party doesn't have a monopoly on crime and corruption. The entire country is rife with it. Sadly, it seems that some countries actually need authoritarian governments. Russia may be one of them. Great place. Awesome people. But, the place is full of criminals and organized crime. (And terrible food.)
You know what they say - you get the government you deserve.
The US oligarchy is just as "authoritarian" as Russia -- just a lot sneakier about it.
Hillary has alot of nerve to complain about corrupted politics in Russia when the US government is the most corrupted government in the world!!!!
I'm sure she has attended her share of "bunga-bunga" parties!
Are you kidding me? While we do have plenty of problems in our government you could hardly say that we have the "most corrupt government". I'm calling reverse American exceptionalism on you
Putin either has not gotten the memo or chooses to ignore it. Once you let the freedom (or a semblance of it) genie out of bottle and the people know what is going on, and that conditions are not getting better for them, they will not put up with Putin and his desire the to restore the Soviet "Union". Gone, never to return.
Putin ought to ask Hillary to come clean about Vince Foster's alleged suicide.
Look, I realize Democracy & Capitalism are far from perfect. But what you're seeing going on all over the world are the alternatives. We need to work on improving and tweaking our system of govt... not replace it.
Exactly. Many comments here rightfully decry greedy banks, capitalists, and lawmakers and politicians who support them, but sound an awful lot like rhetoric coming out of revolutionary Russia or China. Millions died or suffered in those revolutions, and the end results were in many ways worse than what had been before. A tyranny of the angry, tear every thing down masses is no more desirable than the tyranny of a despot or fascist political party.
Putin is like Ceausescu was, thinking his people adore him, and then....WHAM.
Sounds like Bush v Gore only our high court just skipped the aggravation of holding another election.
When is America going to recount the votes from the 2000 and 2004 elections?
Sounds like Russia has become the military police state that the USA is. I wonder if the Pentagon is running things over there, too.
History has shown that Gorbatchev is a reasonable man who wanted a better life for his citizens. He was willing to make concessions for change and being a Russian himself we can believe his opinion about what should be done.
I agree with the Russian dignitary. No US politician has room to throw stones. We don't like it when Russia or China add their two cents on our country. Trouble is they usually make sense while our comments are usually arrogant and disrespetful!
It all sound as if we are back to cold war strategies again.
Loss of public trust to politicians is being used to divide and rule the public, to sustain the deeply troubled democratic rule based on political parties and democratic elections.
Rule of law is the only hope; but, Then, this requires authrities with deep sense of responsibility.
I doubt Putin the Dictator will be holding any new elections.
Big surprise - rigged elections is Russia! We are only talking about the most corrupt people in the world. Could anyone have expected they could handle democracy?