Featured brieng Russia S R E T U E R / I T S O V O N A I R Putin steps into the ring Fraudulent legislative elections and growing protests have set the stage for Russia’s upcoming presidential elections. Putin will have to adjust. His choice of tactics should indicate the direction urveyors of narrative – this includes historians, in which Russia is headed. Pjournalists and political analysts, as well as novelists – love a dramatic turning point. In the narrative of Vladimir Putin’s reign of power in Russia, one event is already being pre - munists and Liberals, emboldened by their stronger Vladimir Putin sented as a possible turning point in what many hope than expected showing, are calling for higher taxes on congratulates heavyweight MMA will be the Russian leader’s undoing: On November Gazprom, which enjoys lower rates than Russia’s oth - 9ghter Fedor 20, 2011, Putin sat ringside at Moscow’s Olympic Sports er oil producers. Also, the results of the legislative elec - Emelianenko after his Complex to watch a mixed martial arts match between tions should make the presidential elections on March win in Moscow on November 20, 2011. heavyweights Fedor Emelianenko and American Jeff 4 more competitive. Monson. The Russian Emelianenko, long considered Even though the election results were consistent the world’s preeminent MMA fighter (a documentary with independent polls conducted in the run-up, ac - about him was called “The Baddest Man on the Plan - cusations of fraud and ballot stuffing emerged almost et”), methodically dismantled the aging American, immediately. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton breaking Monson’s leg with repeated kicks, and won by called the election “flawed,” which aroused Putin’s ire. judges’ decision. After the fight, Putin stepped into the In a four-and-a-half-hour televised phone-up inter - ring to congratulate Emelianenko, referring to him as view a couple of weeks after the elections, he lashed out “a real Russian hero.” But as Putin spoke, the Moscow in all directions with his caustic salt-of-the-earth wit. crowd whistled and jeered. Some even shouted “Putin Putin accused the Russian opposition of being paid off go away.” The video went viral throughout Russia. by unnamed states. “There are people who have Russ - When the national TV station replayed the scene it ian passports but act in the interest of foreign countries drowned the sound of jeering from the tape. and their foreign money… What can you say in this On December 4, less than three weeks after the case? You can say, ‘Come to me Bander-logs,’” he fight, elections were held for the Duma, Russia’s legis - quipped, referring to Rudyard Kipling’s “monkey men” lature. Putin’s party, United Russia, got only 49.3% of the in The Jungle Book . votes, as compared to the 64.1% the party obtained in The interview was classic Putin: biting, unapolo - 2007. Three other parties made their way into the Low - getic and, when necessary, aggressively conciliatory. For er House: the Communist Party came in second with example, when asked about videos circulating on 19.2% (up from 11.6%) and 92 seats, the Just Russia Par - YouTube of ballot stuffing that occurred during the ty gathered 13.25% (up from 7.7%) and 64 seats, and the elections, he deplored the fraud and called for video far-right Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), led by cameras to be installed at all polling locations. When Vladimir Zhirinovsky, got 12% (up from 8.1%) and 56 asked about the protests that took place after the elec - seats. Despite the loss of the constitutional two-thirds tions, he derided the protesters by remarking that the majority (315 seats out of 450 in 2007), United Russia symbolic white ribbons they wore pinned to their won 238 seats, meaning that it still holds the majority chests resembled unfurled condoms. necessary to pass laws alone. This situation makes the On December 24, the Russian opposition organized next Duma more open for debate and will force Unit - a protest of more than 50,000 people (government ed Russia seek out coalition partners. Already the Com - sources put attendance at 30,000, organizers at - !#"%& + !#"%& + - Featured brieng Russia I S T R S E net while tightly controlling the that matter. Born in 1976 in what is now the eastern O T V U O E N R media with the most influence Ukrainian province of Luhansk, his parents moved / A I A R / V Y E over the Russian masses – tele - over the border to what is now Russia when he was two. K Y S E L K O A vision. This is why the reaction After the fall the Soviet Union, when he suddenly need - K M I N A I N E A of the crowd when Putin ed to cross an international border to make the short X Y E T L A A T stepped into the ring to praise trip to visit his grandparents, he felt Russia’s loss of Fedor Emelianenko may have stature acutely. Over the course of his career he has constituted the turning point so turned down several million-dollar-plus exclusive con - many intellectuals – Russian tracts to fight in American organizations so that he and foreign – have been hoping could continue competing for Russia in international for. The Moscow and St. Peters - sambo events. Rather than moving to Moscow or St. Pe - burg intelligentsia has never tersburg where he would be a celebrity, he has stayed been very supportive of Putin. close to old childhood friends in the small town of They appreciated the stability Stary Oskol, leaving only to compete, train or go on pil - he brought them and many con - grimages. So Putin was not exaggerating when he called veniently ignored the blatant vi - him a “real Russian hero.” Emelianenko’s combina - olations of human rights, such tion of stoic calm and explosive violence, is emblem - as government condoned (if not atic of a Russian archetype. government sanctioned) assas - In such a context, the sight of Putin in the ring with sinations of journalist Anna Emelianenko posed a stark contrast to the fans present. Politkovskaya and former intel - Both are indisputably “men of power.” One of them, ligence officer Alexander Litvi - Emelianenko, had just displayed as much humility in nenko. But they never really hid victory as he had in a previous streak of three losses, stanched any criticism of his policies – especially about Vladimir Putin attends their quiet contempt for Putin’s when he apologized for having disappointed the coun - the war in Chechnya. But the internet has experienced a training session of the “Ice hockey authoritarian arrogance. try he was representing and accepted the losses as little interference. One can assume that as the masses legends of the USSR” It is the “real Russian man” “the will of God.” Meanwhile Putin had only a month get their information increasingly from internet-based club at the Megasport (nastayashchiy muzhik ) who earlier announced that he would be running for pres - sources and social networks, they will become more ex - arena in Moscow November 18, 2011. has always been the foundation ident again, and while this did not shock anybody, posed to negative views of Putin and his cohorts. of Putin’s constituency. His ap - many Russians were offended by the arrogance with As Russia prepares for the presidential elections Demonstrators gather 120,000). The opposition – a wide range of Russian so - peal to this segment of society was consolidated at which Putin considered himself the only man capable on March 4, however, there are no opponents to pose during a protest in ciety, although primarily young media-savvy middle another crucial turning point in Putin’s career: his 2003 of guiding Russia. In the ring, as the crowd whistled any serious threat to Putin. He remains Russia’s most Moscow, December 24, 2011. The placard class – has gravitated around Alexei Navalny, a 35- showdown with and imprisonment of the politically over Putin’s congratulations, Emelianenko’s perennially popular politician, and his ratings are high by Western makes a reference to year-old Russian lawyer and blogger who has been ambitious oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. After a impassive expression betrayed a hint of discomfort standards. His approval rating rose to 57% in a poll con - Vladimir Putin’s one of Putin’s most vocal critics. Navalny was the man decade of painful shock therapy and wild capitalism for his president. Putin’s expression of power had be - ducted December 24-25 by the All-Russian Center for remarks that he mistook white ribbons who popularized the epithet “party of crooks and run amok, Putin took one of the oligarchs – most of come antithetical to Emelianenko’s, and this was finally the Study of Public Opinion, which is owned by the gov - worn by protesters for thieves” as a rally cry against United Russia. He was ar - whom had come to be loathed by average Russians being conveyed by Putin’s power base. ernment. That’s higher than the approval rating of 54% condoms. rested on December 6 for protesting illegally and re - who bore the brunt of the Soviet collapse – and made When the video went viral, it emboldened the dis - on December 17-18 and the record low of 51% on De - leased just prior to the December 24 protest, during an example of him. So when the MMA crowd full of parate opposition, united mainly in their being fed up cember 10-11. According to Russia’s biggest inde - which he addressed the crowd in Moscow’s Sakharov muzhiks jeered the popular leader who had long played with Putin’s rule.