Ex-Soviet Dissidents Lament Russia's State

Newsday ^ | 11-13-2004 | Gerald Nadler

[Snapple]

Ex-Soviet Dissidents Lament Russia's State

By GERALD NADLER Associated Press Writer

November 13, 2004, 10:35 AM EST

NEW YORK -- More than 50 former Soviet dissidents who spent years in prisons and Siberian exile say Russia is in danger of slipping back into a police state under President Vladimir Putin and the former KGB colleagues he has brought to power.

Graying and aging, the former political prisoners reminisced one night this week about how they challenged the totalitarian superpower to abide by laws that on paper guaranteed free speech, a free press and fair trials.

Today Russians are turning to Putin, a former KGB colonel, to restore order in their chaotic, market-driven democracy, said Eduard Kuznetsov, 65, who spent 17 years in prison for planning to hijack a plane in Leningrad in 1970 to get out of the Soviet Union.

"More than 50 percent of the key state positions are occupied by former KGB officials," Kuznetsov said. "The KGB officials have a specific mentality. They can't change. There is a danger that it will really be a police state. Not so straightforward as it was under Brezhnev, because there is inertia. (see link for full article)

[Snapple]

Note that these are Russians who sacrificed for their country. They are patriots.

[AmericanVictory]

For once Freepers hear some sense from Nadler. We are not helping by leaning on Russia to leverage OPEC instead of getting independent of both for oil.

[Ptarmigan]

These dissents should never be forgotten. They are the heroes of Russia.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Bukovsky, who won his freedom in a swap for Chilean Communist Louis Corvalan on Dec. 18, 1976, recalled that Putin has lamented the collapse of the Soviet Union as "a tragedy." He said Putin's colleagues also share this view.

"They do so because they used to be young officers of the KGB ... and they still have the feeling that they served the great power and now they want the great power to be back, and they think by repeating the Soviet example they once again will bring greatness to Russia," Bukovsky said.

[Ptarmigan]

Some people just don't get it. They want the Soviet Union back.