Putin Is Challenged at Charity Event
Alexei Druzhinin / AP/RIA-Novosti Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meeting with participants and organizers of a charity concert in Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg on Saturday. 1 of 2 An irritated-looking Prime Minister Vladimir Putin fielded sensitive questions about speech freedoms and Gazprom's controversial plans to raise a skyscraper during an unusual weekend meeting with St. Petersburg intelligentsia that analysts said resembled campaigning for the 2012 presidency. Rock star Yury Shevchuk, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin, plied Putin with questions that are rarely asked in public, including restrictions on press freedom and the right for public assembly, during a charity event for children with cancer in St. Petersburg. "I received a call the day before yesterday from your assistant, I guess — don't remember his name — who asked me not to pose sharp questions," Shevchuk told Putin, according to a transcript published on the prime minister's web site.
Putin seemed to not recognize Shevchuk, 53, even though he is a nationally known singer and songwriter with the rock band DDT, founded in 1980, and often compared to the iconic Soviet bard Vladimir Vysotsky. "What's your name, sorry?" Putin asked. "Yura Shevchuk, a musician," the singer said. Putin dismissed the phone call as a "provocation" that could not have been made by anyone on his staff. Undeterred, Shevchuk pressed ahead with his questions, mentioning that Moscow and St. Petersburg authorities have repeatedly banned attempts by human rights activists and the political opposition to stage rallies in support of free assembly. Police, sometimes brutally, have broken up the protests, held on the 31st of every month that has 31 days in recognition of Article 31 of the Constitution that guarantees free assembly. "The protesting electorate is growing, and you know it. Many are unhappy with the current situation," Shevchuk said. "Do you have a plan for the serious, sincere and honest liberalization and democratization of our country so state organizations do not strangle us and so we stop being afraid of the police on the streets?" he said. Putin voiced support for public protests, saying they "don't hinder but, on the contrary, help" the government.
Putin seemed to not recognize Shevchuk, 53, even though he is a nationally known singer and songwriter with the rock band DDT, founded in 1980, and often compared to the iconic Soviet bard Vladimir Vysotsky. "What's your name, sorry?" Putin asked. "Yura Shevchuk, a musician," the singer said. Putin dismissed the phone call as a "provocation" that could not have been made by anyone on his staff. Undeterred, Shevchuk pressed ahead with his questions, mentioning that Moscow and St. Petersburg authorities have repeatedly banned attempts by human rights activists and the political opposition to stage rallies in support of free assembly. Police, sometimes brutally, have broken up the protests, held on the 31st of every month that has 31 days in recognition of Article 31 of the Constitution that guarantees free assembly. "The protesting electorate is growing, and you know it. Many are unhappy with the current situation," Shevchuk said. "Do you have a plan for the serious, sincere and honest liberalization and democratization of our country so state organizations do not strangle us and so we stop being afraid of the police on the streets?" he said. Putin voiced support for public protests, saying they "don't hinder but, on the contrary, help" the government.
