The head of Russia, By the Grace of God, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias Peter I travelled west, to the Netherlands, England and France some three hundred years ago. That was something unheard-of, as no other tsar had left his country. He even worked incognito as a carpenter on a shipyard in Holland. Consequently Peter brought new technological and scientific knowledge to his country and founded the West-minded city of St. Petersburg. In that very same city, in October 1952 was born Vladimir Putin, the current head of Russia. What are the nation and its autocrat like? From a West European point of view, there are still weighty reasons to come for a lesson to the West.
The internationally awarded investigating editor, human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya was shot to death in Moscow in October. She was an ardent opposer of the way the President, the top politics and the army messed around in Chechnya. Some weeks ago another Russian independent investigator, Aleksandr Litvinenko was poisoned in London and lies hospitalized having 50-50 chances to survive. He claimed he had found proof that the so-called Chechnyan terrorist attacks in Moscow were actually caused by the Omon security forces close to President Putin in order to justify the iron-fisted military operations in Chechnya. According to The Finnish Institute for International Affairs twelve Russian editors has been eliminated under the reign of Vladimir Putin. (Ylioppilaslehti lists fifteen, read the Finnish article here).
Today Amnesty International published the newest human rights report on Russia: the police uses torture and other ill-treatment continuously. "Disappearances" of those detained as suspected wrongdoers keep on happening .. quite like in the dictatorships of the Southern America back in 70's and 80's. One doesn't have to be a barbaric criminal to face such a fate - also non-Russian national activists are on the verge of losing their lives (eg. the arctic Kom-people activist Ljudmila Žorovlja).
The brutal use of force is not only the privilege of the Presidential Kretz. There's a wealthy mafia killing their opponents like tax inspectors, bank directors, other business players. Every month several incidents are reported in the international media. Among the common people racist murders happen: tadzichs, Africans - tens killed and hundreds injured every year according to human rights organisations like Sova and Amnesty.
Mr. President. The situation of your country resembles the lawlessness of the Wild West in the 19th century. It is a magnificent thing that you visit Finland, your Western neighbour tomorrow and stay for the latter part of the week. Welcome to West of St. Petersburg. I hope you learn something about what the Western civilization and the civil society has become.
Tämän avoimen kirjeen kirjoitin viime marraskuussa, kun Putin kävi Lahdessa epävirallisessa huippukokouksessa. Britannian viranomaiset ilmoittivat tänään, että todisteet riittävät asettamaan KGB-agentti Andrei Lugovoin syytteeseen Aleksandr Litvinenkon myrkyttämisestä. Tätä päätöstä passaa juhlia ja toivoa, että demokraattisen toiminnan rajat piirtyvät Venäjällä selvemmin kuin tähän asti.
Putin ja hänen lähipiirinsä ovat estäneet opposition mielenosoitukset, maksaneet riihikuivilla ruplilla mellakat Viron Moskovan-lähetystön edessä, kaapanneet suuryrityksiä ja mediataloja omaan intressipiiriinsä ja pyrkineet eliminoimaan vastustajansa murhiakaan kaihtamatta.
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