Masha Gessen, New York Times: A Russian Revolt, Delayed
MOSCOW — The revolution has been postponed again.
On Friday afternoon, I was speaking with the anti-Putin organizer and anti-corruption activist Leonid Volkov. He was predicting the regime’s impending collapse when he glanced at his iPhone and said, “In fact, right now, as we speak, the long-haul truck drivers are blocking the beltway” around Moscow. The protest had been awaited for weeks, and it was expected to be big, possibly historic.
Russian long-haul truck drivers had been staging smaller protests since at least the middle of last month, demanding the repeal of a new road tax that went into effect Nov. 15. The tax, ostensibly designed to compensate the state for the damage heavy vehicles cause to roads, amounts to 1.53 rubles (less than 3 cents) per kilometer until March 1, and 3.06 rubles (almost 5 cents) thereafter. At current exchange rates, come March, a Moscow-Novosibirsk run would cost about $150 in taxes, or roughly as much as a driver would be paid for the same distance.
WNU Editor: I have mentioned more than once in this blog that the economy is Putin's Achilles Heel .... followed by corruption. Are sentiments in Russia reaching a point where thousands will go on the streets to protest and to strike .... living through the turmoil of the 1980s and 1990s .... I can say unequivocally that the answer is no. Next year .... if conditions continue .... maybe .... but definitely not this winter.
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