Prosecutors launch probe into claims by ‘tractor rally’ protesters in south Russia
A statement posted on the Krasnodar Prosecutors’ Office website on Wednesday says the head of the agency, Leonid Korzhenik – together with the head of the regional administration, Veniamin Kondratyev, and several senior law enforcement officials – held a meeting with a group of farmers who earlier this week announced they were starting a ‘tractor rally’ to Moscow.
The farmers are seeking to deliver their complaints personally to the country’s top authorities, and said about 100 people in 17 tractors and several cars are taking part in the protest.
At the meeting, the farmers expressed their grievances over a number of major deals in the region in which large land plots ended up being given to major agricultural holdings, including several cases in which the property rights had been awarded by courts.
The protesters also claimed that their rights had been violated by court bailiffs who secured the execution of court rulings and investigators who held preliminary probes that ended in verdicts unfavorable to them.
Prosecutors promised to re-check the farmers’ claims and to establish a special working group that would help to quickly settle similar conflicts in future.
However, some of the farmers were not satisfied by these promises and refused to end their rally. The authorities accused them of launching an unsanctioned protest and briefly detained several of the most active protesters.
One of the organizers of the ‘tractor rally’, Aleksei Volchenko, told RIA Novosti on Wednesday that his comrades had decided to stop their protest and return home.
Another protester leader, Vasily Melnichenko, said in comments with radio station Moscow Calling that he had advised his fellow demonstrators not to resist the police but instead ask for detailed explanations. “This is sad and silly” Melnichenko said.
The Russian mass media see Melnichenko as the main driving force behind the story. He is a director of a large agricultural enterprise known for several strong statements criticizing the state’s attitude to farmers and agriculture in general. He is also a member of the Russian Journalists’ Union and the winner of several prizes for reporting on farmers’ issues.
During the annual Q&A session with the Russian president in April this year, he asked Vladimir Putin why the authorities were closing schools, hospitals and other infrastructure facilities in remote regions. Putin answered that the country was in need of modernization, but promised that the needs of ordinary people would be taken into consideration when the plans for any changes are drawn up.
Last week, just before the tractor protests started in Krasnodar, Melnichenko was registered as a candidate from the Russian Ecological Party “the Greens” in the forthcoming parliamentary elections. Melnichenko’s farm is located in Sverdlovsk Region in the Urals, thousands of kilometers from Krasnodar.
