Russia’s far east braced for fresh protests over arrest of governor
Russia’s far east is bracing itself for new mass protests this weekend following unprecedented demonstrations demanding that the Kremlin return a local governor charged with murder.
Sergei Furgal, the governor of Khabarovsk and a former businessman, was bundled into a van last week and flown 6,100 miles to Moscow, where he was indicted on serious charges – the murder of two rivals and the attempted murder of a third in the mid-2000s.
But the populist leader has strong support in his native region, where he defied a Kremlin-backed candidate in 2018 by refusing to drop out of the gubernatorial race and won with the slogan “Enough lying!”
The former scrap metal trader, who later served as an MP for a party seen as the Kremlin’s pocket opposition, is an unlikely folk hero. Russia’s Investigative Committee said it has witness accounts and other “irrefutable evidence” that tie him to the killings of two rival entrepreneurs in 2004-2005.
But distrust for Moscow has bolstered Furgal’s support despite the severity of the accusations. Some supporters have said they do not believe the charges against him. Others say he should face them in his home region.
“People are offended because they themselves worked to make this man governor and then their right to choose was taken away from them,” said Alexey
Romanov, a native of the region who has filmed at the protests and spoken out in their support.
An estimated 35,000 people attended the first rally in Furgal’s support last Saturday, the largest in the region’s history, according to local media, and hundreds more have protested each evening this week after work. A new surge is expected on Saturday, as supporters have said the will protest for as long as needed to have his trial moved to Khabarovsk.
“There has never been something like this in the history of Khabarovsk.
Never,” said Ekaterina Biyak, a former journalist who grew up in the region and recently returned. She has also been streaming the protests.
Furgal’s local appeal is somewhat similar to Putin’s: a larger-than-life executive who could swoop in to crack down on bureaucratic privileges or send local administrators scurrying to solve small-town problems. His shortcomings have largely been attributed to a troubled relationship with Moscow, which has kept him at arm’s length since his election.
Protesters have said they believe his removal was revenge for his election in 2018. “We made a choice, in which we are proud, but someone could not accept it,” goes one protest anthem called Freedom to Furgal.
“In 2018, I said that Sergei Furgal is not going to last more than a year and a half,” said Ildus Yarulin, a professor at Pacific National University in Khabarovsk. “There was an understanding that Furgal would not remain [in office] for very long.”
The gatherings have attracted supporters of Furgal from big cities and even from some of the region’s villages and backwaters, Biyak said, areas traditionally seen as strongholds of support for the Kremlin. Earlier this month, Khabarovsk gave the Kremlin some of its worst returns in a constitutional vote that allowed Putin to “reset” his presidential terms and allow him to remain in office until 2036.
“There has never been much trust here toward Moscow, but to imagine people coming out for a mass protest, it’s not at all typical for the people here,” said Biyak.
The sense that Furgal was being punished for his election has helped temper the shock of the murder accusations among supporters, Biyak said. “It was a very criminal region then, and many people knew others involved in illegal activities, especially in business,” she said. “The mood is: if the people chose him, then they love him. They forgave him.”
The decentralised protest movement has evolved a quirky language of its own to avoid a direct confrontation with law enforcement. Protesters are urged to come out and “feed the pigeons” on the town’s main square. They have tried to focus on Furgal’s case and avoid attacking Putin or the government directly. They thank the police at the end of each demonstration.
Boosters are optimistic about returning Furgal to Khabarovsk but outside observers remain sceptical.
“All these dreams and warm desires are equal to naught. After these kinds of criminal charges… it’s unlikely he’ll be returned,” said Yarulin.