The protest against the Plato system is more than a year old. In the conflict between drivers and authorities, neither side gives in.
Russian truck drivers have been protesting for more than a year against the system of collecting money for driving on Russian roads. The police tried to disperse and arrest the drivers, but to no avail. Now they are trying to eliminate the camps of rebellious truckers.
"Unauthorized parking of trucks"
There is no sign prohibiting parking, but trucks cannot be parked - this is the problem faced by truckers protesting against the Platon tax system.
Yesterday the police evacuated cars from the truckers' camp at the 6th kilometer of the Moscow ring road. The reason was allegedly laying new asphalt in the parking lot.
They refuse to hand over trucks from the impound lot to drivers.
“Plato” is not a friend, and truth is more valuable
Another camp of protesting truckers at the 51st kilometer of the Moscow Ring Road, under the guise of Mosgaz’s work, was dug in on all sides with a ditch. This is know-how in the fight against the growth of protest, drivers say. At night, trucks and tractors arrived at the parking lot, and workers dug a deep ditch. The police were watching what was happening.
“They came up - one in civilian clothes, the other in uniform. And they said: “You know, we are currently undergoing repair work here and it would be necessary for us to leave.” Well, we said that since our Platon has not been paid for, we cannot violate the law and cannot leave,” says Sergei Vladimirov from the Association of Carriers of Russia.
- Sergey Gulyaev: “The demand of Russian truckers is the resignation of the government”
It's not just the capital's parking lots that are being repaired. Large-scale road work also unexpectedly unfolded at a truck stop in Engels. Drivers from the regions go to the capital's protest camps. One of them, Mikhail Kurbatov, was detained by the police for allegedly violating the rules of staying in Moscow.
“There are a lot of cars parked in the regions and they don’t go anywhere,” says Sergei Bazhutin, head of the OPR. “Now a decision has been made to set up protest camps in the regions again.”
Under the sign of the duck
Another parking lot for heavy trucks near Moscow was fenced off, according to drivers, with concrete blocks. Truckers explain the increased attention from law enforcement to themselves by the upcoming anti-corruption protests, in which they also plan to take part on June 12.
Drivers threw yellow ducks into the ditch near the parking lot at the 51st kilometer of the Moscow Ring Road - a symbol of anti-corruption protests.
Masha Makarova
From 10 thousand to 20 thousand people will take part in the “march of truckers” on March 27, the Association of Carriers of Russia told RBC. However, the majority of heavy truck drivers will take part in a “passive” strike - they will simply leave their cars along the roads
Truckers' strike against the Platon system in Ryazan. February 2016 (Photo: Alexander Ryumin / TASS)
Protest
At least 10 thousand truckers from the Association of Carriers of Russia (OPR) alone will take part in a “passive” strike on Monday, March 27, OPR representatives Andrei Bazhutin and Mikhail Kurbatov told RBC. Another source in the association said that the total number of participants will reach 20 thousand.
Participants in the “passive” action will form columns of heavy trucks along the roads, they specified. “The main goal of the strike is to stop cargo flows, that is, we stop transportation and, starting on Monday, we line up columns along roads in cities,” Bazhutin explained.
There are many times fewer supporters of active protests among the strike participants, Kurbatov noted. They will take part in rallies, but the exact number of protest participants will be determined at a general meeting to be held on March 25. “It’s clear that people are intimidated, they are afraid to protest loudly,” added the OPR member. According to him, the strike participants will also discuss forms of active protests at the meeting.
Truckers are demanding the abolition or reduction of tariffs of the Platon system, introduced in November 2015. According to the rules, truck owners or carriers with vehicles with a carrying capacity of more than 12 tons must compensate for the damage caused by heavy trucks to roads.
Split
In groups of OPR and other supporters of the protest on social networks, they are branding “false truckers” - participants in the meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on March 23. The heads of six transport enterprises met with the head of government, one of them, the head of the 12 Ton movement, Sergei Sapronov, told RBC. According to him, they all agreed with Medvedev’s point of view and opposed the strike.
Sapronov called the protest participants provocateurs. He recalled the sensational video filmed by activist Alexander Rastorguev (Kurbatov told RBC that he had nothing to do with their organization). The author is in it reports, that on March 27 “thunderstorms, rockfalls and all sorts of unusual natural conditions are expected,” and calls on opponents of the strike, whom he calls strikebreakers, “not to go to the line that day.”
According to Sapronov, he and other representatives of “peaceful” truck drivers have received threats more than once because of their refusal to participate in the strike. “There was a case in Dagestan: cars were being loaded, and they wrote down their license plate numbers and threw them on the Internet. Is this fair? — he told RBC. In his opinion, no more than 50 drivers will join the active protest.
Kurbatov, in turn, stated that the leadership of the OPR “never threatened anyone or staged provocations.” “These people, Sapronov and [president of the Gruzavtotrans association Vladimir] Matyagin, are fake truck drivers; they appeared when the Kremlin needed participants in meetings with the authorities,” he clarified. “Matyagin doesn’t even have his own transport.”
Protest of truckers in St. Petersburg. February 2016 (Photo: Evgeny Stepanov / Interpress / TASS)
"Spring drying"
Every year, spring restrictions for heavy vehicles are introduced on Russian roads due to floods. This is a period lasting about a month during which some roads are closed to truck drivers for “spring drying.”
The indefinite action of truckers can be tied precisely to this time, Valery Voitko, coordinator of the Truckers association, told RBC. “Because of the serious fines, people will just stand around, but they will call their standing without work a strike. That is, you can point your finger at any heavy truck parked on the side of the road and say: here are the strikers,” he explained.
Like Sapronov, Voitko believes that “an insignificant part of truck drivers from the total number, within the statistical error,” will join the protesters.
Member of the OPR Kurbatov, in a conversation with RBC, denied this assumption. “The drying times are different in each region, we specially scheduled the campaign earlier than they begin, at the end of March, so that there would be no such hints,” he explained. According to the Dorinfo portal, which collected information on the timing of spring restrictions in 2017, the action of truckers will coincide with the “drying” period in 14 of the 61 regions included in the selection.
Meeting with Medvedev
On March 22, six representatives of different trucker movements with members of United Russia, and the next day with the head of the party, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. He was impressed by the arguments of the truckers, RBC attended the meeting with Prime Minister Matyagin.
At the end of the grace period on April 15, 2017, the Platon tariff was supposed to double, from 1.53 to 3.06 rubles. per kilometer of travel. However, on March 24, Dmitry Medvedev decided to increase it only to 1.91 rubles. Thus, we are talking about an increase of 25%.
Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, who also participated in the meeting, said that the decision to raise the tariff was made for an “indefinite period.” An RBC source in United Russia said that one of the reasons for the government’s attention to the problems of truckers could be the planned all-Russian strike on March 27.
After the introduction of “Platon” in 2015, the authorities have already encountered protests by truckers; in the capital, MKAD trucks. The authorities will then reduce the rate of tariff growth. At the end of 2015, the protests of truck drivers were supported by 70% of Muscovites in the Levada Center.
Yuga.ru figured out what was happening with the shares of truck drivers in the Caucasus.
Where it all started?
In November 2015, Russia introduced a toll for heavy vehicles weighing over 12 tons on federal highways. The payment is collected through the Platon system. The introduction of the system caused mass protests among truckers throughout Russia. At the end of the grace period, on April 15, 2017, the Platon tariff was supposed to double, but on March 24, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev decided to increase it by 25%.
The Association of Russian Carriers decided to organize a strike against the Platon tariff system. A representative of the Association of Carriers, Andrei Bazhutin, said that from 10 to 20 thousand people would take part in the protest on March 27, and most of the heavy truck drivers were supposed to take part in a “passive” strike - form columns of cars along the roads. “The main goal of the strike is to stop freight flows, that is, we stop transportation and, starting Monday, we line up columns along roads in cities.”,” Bazhutin explained to RBC.
Kuban truckers are also outcosiness?
Yes. The action of truckers against “Platon” took place in the Korenovsky district near the village of Platnirovskaya. “We only stood for an hour, and [the police] came to disperse our protest. We decided to resist for now, but we don’t know what will happen next.”, said one of the protesters. “They heard us, they thought that there would be no reaction to us at all. Now let's see that we were heard, then time will tell. We dispersed - we dispersed, we stood on traffic islands and did not block the road. But the traffic police told us that they would find a reason to “twist the fins”,”- he added.
In Krasnodar, the action was actually disrupted. “All parking lots at the entrances to Krasnodar were blocked by the police today, who did not allow the protesting truckers to organize a spontaneous parking lot and hold a protest against Platon.”, - coordinator of the Association of Russian Carriers Alexander Cherevko told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.
Sergei Gritsenko, coordinator of protests among truckers in Kuban, told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent that a traffic police post was set up in the Seversky district, through which it was impossible to drive a truck. “I was stopped and given a warning that participation in an uncoordinated action would be regarded as extremism. I returned home, from where I coordinate actions", - said Gritsenko.
In the Gulkevichi district, a spontaneous camp of truckers was blocked by the police. The police stopped all passing cars, checked passports and warned about “impossibility of participating in an unapproved event”. According to Gritsenko, on the eve of the protests, three people were detained in different parts of Kuban.
How is the campaign going outside the Krasnodar region?
Truckers from Volgograd, Astrakhan, North Ossetia, and Kabardino-Balkaria joined the strike, but the events in Dagestan caused the greatest resonance. There, more than 1 thousand people from all over the region took part in the action. The drivers left the Kayakent district towards Makhachkala, where they intended to meet with the protesters from the capital of Dagestan.
In total, more than 30 thousand vehicles with a carrying capacity of more than 12 tons are registered in Dagestan. Dagestan truck drivers are among the most active in the country. Since March 27, up to 90% of truck drivers joined the boycott and refused to participate in cargo transportation. The protesters deal harshly with those who continue to go to work. There is information that at least 30 vehicles transporting from Azerbaijan were damaged at the hands of Dagestani truckers. At the same time, the protesters themselves call themselves victims. Four trucks belonging to protesters in Dagestan were damaged on the night of April 1.
According to various sources, up to 2 thousand trucks gathered in the area of the settlement of Manas near Makhachkala. Deputy Minister of Transport, Energy and Communications of the Republic Yakub Khudzhaev arrived to meet with truckers gathered from different parts of Dagestan. He suggested that the drivers assemble an initiative group that, together with officials from the government of Dagestan, will formulate demands for Moscow. Despite the entreaties of officials, the truckers refused to leave Manas and announced their intention to move to Makhachkala along the Caucasus highway. After the truckers’ camp was left by another group of officials who wanted to persuade the protesters to go home, the participants of the action - 1.5 thousand cars and over 2 thousand drivers - were blocked by troops of the Russian Guard and riot police, and armored vehicles were pulled to the place of the action.
“The Russian Guard is standing 50 meters from us in full combat gear and with weapons. There are 100 people in total, along with them five large cars and more than ten traffic police cars.”,” driver Abdula Abdulaev told RBC.
“We are not receiving any threats. Riot police lined up along the road on both sides at a distance of approximately 2 meters from the cars, not allowing us to enter the highway and not allowing cars that were coming down from the mountains to join the strike. Yesterday we brought in a lot of military equipment.”“, said one of the participants of the action, Ruslan Magomedov.
“There is no promotion as such. People are standing, this is a special place for the deployment of heavy vehicles. Ministry of Internal Affairs officers are present there in order to prevent violation of public order. There are 66 people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan, another 20 are seconded from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. They do not interfere with the passage of cars.",” the press service of the Dagestan police told the RBC agency.
According to Novaya Gazeta, tensions have been gradually decreasing since April 2. Most of the Russian Guard forces left the truckers' camp in Manas. Nevertheless, drivers continue to block the Rostov-Baku federal highway.
What do truck drivers want?
Truckers are demanding the abolition or reduction of tariffs of the Platon system, introduced in November 2015. According to the rules, truck owners or carriers with vehicles with a carrying capacity of more than 12 tons must compensate for the damage caused by heavy trucks to roads. At the end of the grace period, on April 15, 2017, the Platon tariff was supposed to double - from 1.53 rubles to 3.06 rubles per 1 km of run. On March 24, after a meeting with representatives of truckers, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev decided that the tariff would be increased only by a quarter - to 1.91 rubles per 1 km. Truckers were not happy with this decision.
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Who benefits from “Plato” and why is it called so strangely?
The name "Plato" is an abbreviation for the phrase "payment per ton." The system ensures the collection, processing, storage and automatic transmission of data on the movement of a vehicle with a permissible maximum weight of over 12 tons, and applies to all public roads of federal significance.
The funds received are received daily into the federal budget and are used to ensure road maintenance, finance construction and repair work and improve road and transport infrastructure. As of March 15, about 22 billion rubles had been collected with the help of Platon. By order of the government, it is planned to use part of these funds to repair 24 damaged bridges in 2017.
The operator of Platon is the company RT-invest Transport Systems, its co-owner is Igor Rotenberg, the son of Russian billionaire Arkady Rotenberg.
Prohibition signs were installed at the site of the truckers' protest in Vladivostok
Signs prohibiting parking were installed along Centenary Avenue in Vladivostok to prevent truckers from protesting against the Platon system, writes Data.
The signs were installed this morning, and traffic police cars are on duty nearby. The traffic police explained to the publication that the cones appeared due to “routine cleaning of roadsides and sidewalks.”
“He was detained because he decided that one motor rally from the Oil and Fat Plant was not enough and led another one through a hydroelectric dam, which the authorities did not approve. He was later detained. He may face a fine of up to 2 thousand rubles. We are now understanding the situation,” Alexander Chernykh, chairman of the Association of Road Carriers of the Irkutsk Region, explained to the agency.
Four protesting truck drivers were detained in Voronezh
In Voronezh, four truck drivers participating in a protest against the Platon system were detained. About this on your Twitter reported Correspondent of “Echo of Moscow in St. Petersburg” Arseny Vesnin.
According to Vesnin, the truckers were detained “allegedly for stealing batteries.” Other details of the incident are still unknown.
The leader of Dagestani truck drivers was detained in Moscow
The organizer of the Association of Carriers of Dagestan, Rustam Mallamagomedov, was detained in Moscow. Novaya Gazeta is about this.
Mallamagomedov was detained after a press conference of truckers, which took place at the Novaya Gazeta media center in Khokhlovsky Lane. After the conference, two plainclothes operatives were waiting for him, who introduced themselves as employees of the criminal investigation department.
They reported that Mallamagomedov had been detained and would be sent to the district police department. The reasons for his detention were not given to him. Then, according to Novaya Gazeta, a tinted Lada Largus car without license plates drove up and Mallamagomedov was taken away in it.
Truckers detained in Voronezh were released from the police department
Five participants in the truckers' protest, detained in Voronezh earlier on Wednesday, were released from the police. This was reported by the OVD-Info project with reference to the deputy head of the Regional Council of Labor Collective Representatives, Elena Verbovaya.
According to OVD-Info, truckers were detained to give explanations as witnesses in various cases.
Pavel Enyakin was interrogated at police department No. 7 as a witness in the case of a gang stealing batteries. Yuri Volkov was interrogated at the Sovetsky District Department of Internal Affairs in connection with a robbery in a local Tanais park.
Also among the detainees were Dmitry Chipilev (he was taken to the Zheleznodorozhny District Department of Internal Affairs), Vitaly Tychikhin (Levoberezhny District Department of Internal Affairs) and Mikhail Esin (Kominternovsky District Department of Internal Affairs).
In Dagestan, police began detaining protesting truck drivers
In the suburbs of Makhachkala, police began to detain truckers who took part in the action against the Platon system, Kavkaz.Realii reports, citing one of the participants in the action.
According to the publication’s interlocutor, at first the police “simply told them to disperse,” and when the truckers refused to leave, they rudely demanded that the rally be stopped. Then the Ministry of Internal Affairs officers began to detain activists. The exact number of detainees is still unknown. A day earlier, at least 90 heavy truck drivers were at the protest site.
"Caucasian Knot": the coordinator of protests of truckers in Kuban is wanted
The coordinator of the truckers' rally in Kuban, Sergei Gritsenko, is hiding from law enforcement agencies, his bank cards have been blocked, and the police are distributing information about him, coordinator of the association of Russian carriers Alexander Cherevko told the Caucasian Knot. “They want to detain him. Therefore, he is hiding, but at the same time coordinating the actions,” explained the publication’s interlocutor.
Gritsenko himself told the publication that at the end of March he “was invited to a conversation at the police department in connection with participation in protests.” “I did not participate in illegal actions, I communicated with people and coordinated their actions geographically in the Krasnodar Territory,” Gritsenko explained. He decided to go into hiding after being warned of possible arrest. “I was informed that there is an order for my detention,” the coordinator said. Having learned about this, he turned off his phone and left the Seversky district.
The leader of Dagestani truck drivers was released from the police without drawing up a report
The organizer of the Association of Carriers of Dagestan, Rustam Mallamagomedov, was released from the department without drawing up a protocol, reports OVD-info with reference to his lawyer Valentin Pyshkin.
Police detained Mallamagomedov after a press conference of truckers, which took place at the Novaya Gazeta media center in Khokhlovsky Lane. After the conference, two plainclothes operatives were waiting for him, who introduced themselves as employees of the criminal investigation department. Without explanation, they detained the activist.
Truck driver coordinator detained in Chelyabinsk
The coordinator of the Association of Russian Carriers in Chelyabinsk, Sergei Malevsky, was detained, the chairman of the organization, Andrei Bazhutin, told OVD-Info.
According to Bazhutin, Malevsky is charged with violating Part 2 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (organizing a public event without filing a notification)
He explained that until April 6, the OPR had permission to hold the action, and when it ended, the truckers removed posters and banners from the parking lot, but left the flags.
In Tatarstan, a truck driver was fined 10 thousand rubles for an uncoordinated action
The Pestrechinsky District Court of Tatarstan fined truck driver Vladislav Abramov 10 thousand rubles, Idel reported. Realities" his representative, lawyer Elza Nisanbekova.
She explained that at the meeting the offense was reclassified from Part 2 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (organizing or holding a public event without filing a notice of its holding in the prescribed manner) to Part 5 of the same article (violation by a participant of a public event of the established procedure for holding a rally).
The lawyer insisted that in fact, on March 27, not a rally, but a meeting took place near Kazan, and promised to appeal the district court’s verdict.
The State Council of Tatarstan sent to the State Duma a bill on the abolition of “Plato”
A member of the Communist Party faction, Artem Prokofiev, prepared a bill to abolish the Platon system, and the State Council of Tatarstan adopted a resolution to send the document for consideration to the State Duma, writes Realnoe Vremya.
Prokofiev provided the publication with a copy of the bill “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation in Connection with the Abolition of the Collection of Tolls to Compensate for Damage Caused to Highways by Vehicles with a Permitted Maximum Weight of Over 12 Tons.”
In the explanatory note to the bill, Prokofiev writes that the first results of the Platon system indicate its ineffectiveness in terms of improving the condition of roads and negative consequences for the transport industry and the economy.
An administrative protocol was drawn up against a truck driver from Engels for a single picket
The police drew up an administrative protocol against truck driver Oleg Turuntsev, who held a single picket against the Platon system in Engels. “Vzglyad-info” writes about this.
Turuntsev is charged with Part 2 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code (violation of the procedure for holding a public event).
According to the coordinator of the truckers' strike, Alexander Cherevko, about ten police officers tried to convince Turuntsev that the picket should be coordinated with the administration. On his truck it says “Truckers are on strike - the media is silent.”
The chairman of the local branch of the Association of Carriers of Russia was detained in Kirov
Kirov police detained the chairman of the local branch of the Association of Carriers of Russia, Valery Soryak, the association’s coordinator, Yuri Kunshin, told OVD-Info.
According to Kunshin, truckers stood along the road in Kirov as part of an all-Russian strike against the Platon system. The police drove up to the protesters several times to take down the license plates of their cars and documents. Later, they took Soryak to the police station, telling him about a message they had received from an unknown citizen about an unauthorized rally in the parking lot.
At the Soryak department, a report was drawn up under Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (violation of the procedure for holding a public event) for a car rally agreed with the authorities that took place on March 27.
The police detained several participants in the “Association of Russian Carriers” motor rally along Nevsky Prospekt in support of the truckers’ protests, “Mediazone” photographer David Frenkel.
According to him, the police had a conflict with one of the protesters, who doubted the documents they provided. The man was taken into the car for a 15-minute conversation, during which his comrades surrounded the police car. After the activist got out of the car, he was detained; the grappling truckers tried to protect him, but at that time the National Guard or riot police officers came running and began making arrests.
Human rights activist Dinar Idrisov told OVD-Info that seven were detained and were released in the evening. The Chairman of the Association of Carriers of Russia, Andrei Bazhutin, is charged with an offense under Part 2 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences, the rest are charged with Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences. The police department said that seven detainees were brought to them.
The rally along Nevsky Prospekt was planned to be held in cars with OPR flags. The column of protest participants was stopped on Moskovskoye Highway. The rally is taking place in support of the strike of freight carriers, which began in the regions on March 27.
In the Moscow region, police surrounded protesting truck drivers
In the Moscow region, the police surrounded truck drivers who had been standing in the parking lot since the morning near the Shokolad shopping center on the 2nd km of the Moscow Ring Road near the city of Reutov. The head of the Moscow branch of the Association of Carriers of Russia, Sergei Rudometkin, reported this to Mediazona.
According to him, at the moment there are 29 truckers’ cars parked in the parking lot near the shopping center. There are “twice as many” patrol cars.
The police demand that truckers leave the parking lot, citing the fact that it is private territory. The protesters intend to negotiate with the administration of the shopping center.
Medvedev: only 480 truck drivers out of 800 thousand are on strike
Only 480 truckers out of 800 thousand registered carriers are participating in protests against the Platon system, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting of the State Duma.
“All [truck drivers] want to work not in the gray zone, but in the white zone. And those who come up with certain demands are not registered in the system,” Medvedev complained, citing conversations with leaders of the carrier association.
In Voronezh, police detained four protesting truck drivers
In Voronezh, police detained four protesting truck drivers in a parking lot on Ostuzheva Street. Pavel Enyakin, coordinator of the Association of Carriers of Russia, reported this to OVD-Info.
Enyakin said that in addition to him, Denis Shchelkanov and Vitaly S. were detained, as well as Denis Larin, whom Enyakin called a “sympathizer.” The detainees are charged with Article 19.4 of the Administrative Code (disobedience to a lawful order of an official of a body exercising state supervision).
Police claim that the parking of trucks is interfering with repair work. According to the coordinator, the work is being carried out at a distance of at least 80 meters, but the police insist that a cable passes through the truckers’ parking area.
In Irkutsk, organizers of a rally against Platon were detained before the rally
The motor rally against the Platon system, which the Association of Automobile Carriers of the Angara Region was going to hold in Irkutsk, did not take place due to the arrest of the organizers, reports the BaikalPost agency.
According to the representative of the organization, Alexander Chernykh, the rally with the participation of 15 cars with flags was agreed upon with the city authorities. Coordinator of the Association of Russian Carriers in the Irkutsk Region, Irina Tafilevich, said that the organization did not support the rally, since it was not planned to place posters against “Plato” on the cars.
As a result, the rally started from Traktovaya Street, but soon Chernykh was detained for sticking an anti-Plato sticker. According to him, two or three more people were detained. An employee of the Irkutsk administration, in a conversation with the agency, explained that the rally was allegedly supposed to take place without symbols, including the symbols of political parties.
By the time of publication, all detainees had already been released from the police.
In Voronezh, police detained a participant in a truckers strike
Voronezh police officers detained and took away in an unknown direction one of the participants in the truckers' strike against the Platon system, Vitaly Sychikhin, Pavel Enyakin, coordinator of the Association of Russian Carriers in the city, told OVD-Info.
According to him, police officers said that they would take Sychikhin to the first department, but he is not there now. The activist's phone has been switched off.
The court dismissed the case of a strike participant in Voronezh
The Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Voronezh terminated the administrative proceedings against truck driver strike participant Vitaly Sychikhin, who was detained on April 22, Pavel Enyakin, coordinator of the Association of Carriers of Russia in Voronezh, told OVD-Info.
The police drew up a report against Sychikhin under Article 18.8 of the Administrative Code (violation by a foreign citizen or stateless person of the rules of entry into the Russian Federation or the regime of stay in the Russian Federation). Sychikhin is a citizen of Belarus and lives in Russia.
A court in Tyumen fined the leader of a cargo carrier association
The Central District Court of Tyumen fined the founder of the freight carriers association, Vladimir Ardashov, 20 thousand rubles for an uncoordinated rally against the Platon system, reports 72.ru.
About ten truckers who took part in the action came to the court hearing on Friday, April 28. They reported that they were going to continue the action against the Platon system; trucks of strikers remain on the highway near Tyumen.
“We are fighting for the whole people,” Ardashov said after the meeting. “We want people to be able to buy themselves whatever they want, and not walk around the shop windows and lick their lips. If we get away with this now, then in the future a loaf of bread will cost not 20, but 100 rubles.”
In the Chelyabinsk region, a protocol was drawn up against a protesting truck driver for organizing a protest
In the Chelyabinsk region, a report was drawn up against protesting truck driver Nikolai Matveev under Part 2 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code (organization of an unapproved public event), OVD-Info reports.
Matveev said that he went to the police station voluntarily, having agreed with his brother, a policeman. However, the department’s employees still drew up a report against him, considering him the organizer of the truck parking at the “Europe-Asia” stele.
In Yekaterinburg, a tractor dug a ditch around a truck stop
In Yekaterinburg, a tractor dug a ditch around the parking lot of local truckers, Novaya Gazeta reports, citing driver coordinator Nail Nigamatullin.
“There were about twenty cars standing there, ten managed to escape and drive out of the parking lot, eleven remained,” he said.
According to him, the tractor arrived at the parking lot around 10 am.
“The workers did not say from whom they received the decree and why they were doing this, but in fact, they dug a ditch around us so that those guys who went home for the holidays could not return,” added Nigamatullin.
He noted that on the eve of the First of May there were more than 60 cars in the parking lot, but many of the activists, wanting to spend the holidays with their families, left to return after the 9th.
The words of the coordinator were confirmed by the head of the truck drivers participating in the all-Russian strike, Andrei Bazhutin. He said that drivers have already filed complaints against officials.
“Currently we are under an information blockade; any of our actions are either hushed up or presented in a false light. So the information came out that Dagestan drivers stopped the strike, but many there continue to stand at home; not a single report came out on television from our May Day protests,” Bazhutin emphasized.
The Supreme Court of Tatarstan confirmed fines for truck drivers from Kazan
The Supreme Court of Tatarstan upheld the fines for truck drivers Vladislav Abramov and Andrey Lukin, reports Idel.Realii with reference to their representative, lawyer Elsa Nisanbekova.
In early April, the Pestrechinsky District Court of Tatarstan fined Abramov and Lukin 10 thousand rubles for violating Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code (violation by a participant of a public event of the established procedure for holding a meeting, rally, demonstration, procession or picketing). Then Nisanbekova announced that she would appeal the verdict.
According to the publication, initially police officers drew up a protocol against Lukin and Abramov under Part 2 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (organizing or holding a public event without submitting notification of its holding in the prescribed manner). The Pestrechinsky District Court of Tatarstan reclassified their actions as part 5 of the same article and fined them 10 thousand rubles. The Supreme Court of Tatarstan upheld these decisions.
Protesting truck drivers detained in Khimki
Truck drivers protesting against the Platon system were detained in Khimki, OVD-Info reports.
Truckers set up a parking lot near the Leroy Merlin store. According to OVD-info, nine people were detained.
As the press secretary of the truck drivers protesting in Khimki, Taisiya Nikitenko, told Mediazona, the truckers decided to organize a new parking lot at night.
According to her, a total of 12 people were detained: the leader of the Association of Carriers of Russia, Andrei Bazhutin, coordinator of the St. Petersburg branch Sergei Vladimirov, Daim Imerkhanov, Yuri Bukanov, Valery Saprykin, Maxim Arzhanykh, Alexey Borisov, Sergei Ponezha, representative of taxi drivers Evgeniy Greg, Sergei Rudametkin , Igor Sharapov and blogger Igor Finkovsky.
During the arrest, the police referred to Articles 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (violation of the established procedure for holding a public event) and 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (disobedience to a lawful order of a police officer). The detainees were brought to the Department of Internal Affairs No. 1 in the city of Khimki.
Nikitenko later told Mediazona that they had begun to evacuate cars from the truckers’ parking lot and were planning to remove trucks from there.
Updated at 17:17: added information about twelve detainees and the evacuation of vehicles.
Truckers detained in Khimki were left with the police for the second night
Truck drivers detained in Khimki are left in police custody for the second night, OVD-Info reports, citing human rights activist Alla Frolova.
The truckers detained on May 21 were left at police station No. 1 overnight to await their trials, which were scheduled to take place on May 22. Frolova said that the case materials were returned to the police for revision.
All detainees, except the leader of the Association of Carriers of Russia Andrei Bazhutin, were subject to protocols under Part 1 of Article 19.3 (disobedience to a lawful order of a police officer) and Part 5 of Article 20.2 (violation by a participant of a public event of the established procedure for holding a meeting, rally, demonstration, procession or picketing).
A report was drawn up against Bazhutin under Part 1 of Article 19.3 and Part 2 of Article 20.2, considering him to be the organizer of the action.
Truckers detained in Khimki were fined for disobeying the police and violating the order of the rally
Three truck drivers detained in Khimki were fined for disobeying police demands and violating the holding of a rally (Articles 19.3 and 20.2 of the Administrative Code). Polina Nemirovskaya, deputy coordinator of the human rights direction of Open Russia, reported this on her Twitter.
Truck driver leader Bazhutin was fined 30 thousand rubles
The Khimki City Court of the Moscow Region fined the Chairman of the Association of Carriers of Russia Andrei Bazhutin 30 thousand rubles, Alla Frolova, coordinator of legal assistance for the project, told OVD-Info.
Bazhutin was found guilty under Part 2 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code (organizing a mass event without filing a notification).
Published 03/27/17 14:03In the regions of Russia today, March 27, 2017, a protest of truckers against Platon began.
Protest of truckers against "Platon" on March 27: the leaders of the action promised to bring thousands of people to marches
From 10 thousand to 20 thousand people will take part in the “march of truckers” on March 27, the Association of Carriers of Russia told RBC. However, the majority of heavy truck drivers will take part in a “passive” strike - they will simply leave their cars along the roads, said OPR representatives Andrei Bazhutin and Mikhail Kurbatov. Another source in the association said that the total number of participants will reach 20 thousand.
A strike of truck drivers began in St. Petersburg. Lots of cars: the view from just one intkbbee sides of the track: pic.twitter.com/sj0UabjMaR
Participants in the “passive” action will form columns of heavy trucks along the roads. “The main goal of the strike is to stop cargo flows, that is, we stop transportation and, starting on Monday, we line up columns along roads in cities,” Bazhutin explained.
The striking truck drivers are accused of supporting Navalny. They: for him and not for Medvedev. Photo of the most beautiful truck) pic.twitter.com/RNtdIaG8gU
— Arseny Vesnin (@ars_ves) March 27, 2017
There are many times fewer supporters of active protests among the strike participants, Kurbatov noted. They will take part in rallies, but the exact number of protest participants will be determined at a general meeting to be held on March 25.
Truckers protest 03/27/2017: what do drivers demand?
Truckers are demanding the abolition or reduction of tariffs of the Platon system, introduced in November 2015. According to the rules, truck owners or carriers with vehicles with a carrying capacity of more than 12 tons must compensate for the damage caused by heavy trucks to roads.
In groups of OPR and other supporters of the protest on social networks, they are branding “false truckers” - participants in the meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on March 23. The heads of six transport enterprises met with the head of government, said one of them, the head of the “12 tons” movement Sergei Sapronov. According to him, they all agreed with Medvedev’s point of view and opposed the strike. Sapronov called the protest participants provocateurs.
Posted by Kirill Shipitsin (@kirillshipicin) Mar 26, 2017 at 11:32 PDT
Where is the truckers protest taking place?
In St. Petersburg, Primorye, Tatarstan, Yekaterinburg and other regions of Russia, protests by truckers demanding the abolition of the Platon system began.
