Since the beginning of the second wave of protests against “Platon” (the toll system for heavy trucks), which started on Monday in the format of an all-Russian driver strike, photos and videos of broken and damaged windshields of trucks have already spread on the Internet. As stated in the explanatory captions to these materials, in this way the participants in the all-Russian strike force those who did not join the strikers and boarded the flight not to be a “strikebreaker” and to support the action. A significant part of such photographs came from Dagestan. In addition to the photos, there are also two videos with the burned skeletons of trucks - also from this region.
Novaya Gazeta is following the progress of a major protest action and has already written that the strike in Dagestan has become the largest among the Russian regions, and its participants are the most determined.
The authorities are trying to counteract them. It is known that the camp of Dagestani truck drivers near Manas on Wednesday evening, according to eyewitnesses, was cordoned off by Russian Guard soldiers who replaced regular police units.
To find out the details of the protest and guess how the strike will develop this year, a Novaya Gazeta correspondent met in Moscow with two coordinators of the Dagestan strike: Rustam Mallamagamedov, the leader of the Dagestan truck drivers, and Timur Isaev, the protest coordinator for the city of Makhachkala, who just arrived yesterday from the republic to the capital.
Truckers' meeting in Dagestan. Photo: social networks
Team from Moscow
Rustam: The latest news is this: in Manas, the military, presumably the National Guard, has cordoned off the road and the truckers’ camp. So far there have been no clashes with them, but the situation is very serious. In the morning there were reports that riot police made attempts to disperse drivers who had gone to the police station to support their already arrested comrades, but later this information was not confirmed. I personally was put on the list of extremists in the republic ( Apparently, we are talking about getting on the so-called “professional accounting” list, the persons involved in which are included in the development of the “E” centers — Ed.), calls are coming in constantly. They are trying to put pressure through relatives. Yesterday we came to my father and gave him a piece of paper: sign that you will not participate in rallies. He replied: I will participate in rallies, and just like that he wrote on this piece of paper: “I undertake to participate in rallies, in all rallies that are in favor of the people.”
Pressure is also being put on other drivers participating in the strike. They say that a team from Moscow came to find and attract the organizer of the strike. Shamil Dzhabrailov, an ordinary driver, is called to the police every day in this case. In fact, he is a simple driver, a participant. In the Karabudakhkent district, five people were detained on March 28, and no one has been released yet.
— How to understand the video with the burned cars of those truck drivers who refused to participate in the strike and went on the road?
Rustam: In Dagestan, cars were definitely not burned. There was only one incident, on the night of March 26-27, when a truck burned down due to faulty wiring.
- Do they break windows? There are also many such photographs.
Rustam: Windshields really do break. And these are already dozens of cases, and not only in Dagestan...
Photos of broken and damaged windows at parking lots of protesting truck drivers in Dagestan. Photo: social networks Timur: The majority of protesters do not support aggressive actions. We explain in words, but some people just got boiled, others got nervous - and so they took extreme measures. I won’t tell you who exactly it was. I don't know myself.
Rustam: Now in the republic not only heavy trucks are stopped, but also gazelles, which “Plato” does not concern. In total, the cars cost about forty thousand, which is almost one hundred percent. Truckers themselves do not allow a single truck to pass through Dagestan. Regardless of the numbers. If we see anyone, we stop them. There are about 200 trucks from Iran at the Azerbaijani border. Five of them broke through, but they were later caught up and convinced to park.
“The goal is for people to stop watching TV and see empty shelves in stores.”
Rustam: Our goal is to keep store shelves empty. So that people step away from the TV and see what is really happening in the country. We need support. Now everyone is standing in Dagestan: both large enterprises and private owners. We presented a united front. Azerbaijanis treat the current situation with understanding, however, we warned them all in advance. In three months.
Timur: We are truckers, working class. We earn money through physical labor. The working class is built on mutual support. Those people who are going on flights now, they behave selfishly even without strikes, these are the same people who will pass by if you are broken down. Such a character trait. They have selfish values in the foreground. How can one relate to them? Only negative. And to be honest, brick into glass is a cry from the heart. This is done by a desperate person, and he must be understood. There are now five to ten percent of them, but the number is growing every day. Many are on the verge. Nerves are not iron.
— All because of “Plato”?
Timur: Yes. Industry has been destroyed in the republic, there are villages where almost all men earn money by driving cabs. People with two or three higher educations sit behind the steering wheel, because there is nowhere else to work. In Dagestan it is impossible to take out a loan or work on the land as a human being. Everyone here is already fed up with these officials, the cops, kickbacks are needed everywhere. And “Plato” is the last straw.
— How do local officials react?
Rustam: We set an ultimatum: central television must film us live, and only after that we will begin a dialogue. And the demands sound like this: the cancellation of “Plato” and the resignation of the government. Local officials promised television. Channel One and NTV. We find it hard to believe.
One of the sites in Dagestan. Photo: social networks Protesters can count
— How do you understand the position of the ministry: that private owners should leave, leaving only large companies in the transportation market?
Timur: 90% of us are private owners. In the early 90s, the car depots collapsed, and the men took over the maintenance of the cars. The state dumped all the repairs, spare parts, and gasoline onto the shoulders of the private owner. And now they say: private owners are not needed, let only large ones remain. But we are truck drivers, we raised the economy throughout the country, bought timber in Vologda, and transported it to Dagestan. They were dragging the industry down. And what are they now offering us in return? We are taxpayers. They call us “gray”, but even those of us who have not registered our activities as individual entrepreneurs, we still work under a contract, there is also personal income tax and other taxes. After all, the company receives the cargo officially, the paperwork is filled out, and all the required deductions are indicated. The state exists with our money. If we stop, the economy will stop. Do the math yourself, for one liter of gasoline we pay 9 rubles in fuel surcharge, one trip is a thousand liters, or even more. Each car makes five or six trips a month, some more. How much will the state lose due to downtime?
“Last year’s protests ended with almost no results. Nobody canceled “Platon”, and now the fees are being increased... Many drivers then remained indifferent to the protests. There was only Dagestan. What will happen if history repeats itself this time?
Rustam: We are watching how the center behaves, but even if Russia does not stand up - although it has already stood up, in fact, in Ussuriysk, and in Nizhny, and in Vologda, and in Saratov, Orenburg, Tyumen, Ulan-Ude - we still we will not retreat. The police understand this, deep down they are with us, but they have orders. Now, a year later, we are demanding not only the cancellation of Plato, but also the resignation of the government. Because they don’t hear us, they don’t want to communicate with us. They consider us cattle, arrest us, and scare us. Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic call me and ask: calm the people down. I am reassuring, but people are very tense.
The police dispersed the truckers who had gathered near Moscow in an original way. A “no stopping” sign appeared at the parking lot. /website/
Truckers protesting against the Platon system gathered from all over Russia to hold an all-Russian action. On Thursday, December 3, they stopped in the vicinity of Moscow to be collected and then sent in columns to the capital.
Traffic police inspectors noticed the accumulation of heavy trucks and invited the protesters to drive to a special parking lot to meet with a representative of the Ministry of Transport. The drivers refused, after which a “no stopping” sign appeared at their meeting point.
The sign shows fresh traces of attachment, indicating its absence previously. After this, traffic police officers began checking drivers’ documents and drawing up reports of illegal parking.
The police hastily hung up a “no parking” sign (footprints are visible). truckers claim that it was not there. pic.twitter.com/AxdKWPP7ah
The protesters were forced to leave the gathering place and move towards the capital. According to eyewitnesses, the police blocked all parking areas along the convoy's route. In addition, riot police were brought to the center of the capital, which indicates that the capital authorities are preparing for the action of truckers. Protesters arrive in Moscow
Meanwhile, protesters continue to arrive in the capital. Currently, in the Lyubertsy district of the Moscow region, 200 trucks from Dagestan are waiting for a signal. Truckers from Stavropol, Kursk, Tula and other regions intend to join them. According to various sources, drivers from more than 30 regions intend to participate in the protest.
They occupied the northern approaches to Moscow. They are now considering their next steps. The protesters are considering two options - record a video message to the president and return home or connect with the southern column. However, the protesters suspect that they will not be allowed onto the Moscow Ring Road, and they also do not want to “strain Muscovites.”
“All our actions will only affect ordinary Muscovites. The government and authorities will not suffer from this in any way. I wouldn’t want to be branded as evil truckers,” said one of the coordinators of the action. At the same time, he noted that most of the traffic police officers are friendly.
last hope
The drivers explained that they were promised a meeting with the Ministry of Transport. However, they do not see the point in this, since the meeting in St. Petersburg did not lead to anything. “The last hope is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, but judging by yesterday’s appeal to the government, he has no desire to respond to us,” the coordinator said.
Yesterday Vladimir Putin delivered a message to the Federal Assembly. However, in his speech he did not say a word about the situation with Plato and truckers. Immediately after the end of the president’s speech, regional coordinators began to unite small columns of trucks on the approaches to the capital.
Truckers, which was introduced in Russia on November 15. It provides for charging for each kilometer of travel on federal highways at the rate of 1.53 rubles per kilometer. The authorities promise to use these funds to compensate for the damage caused to roads by heavy trucks. However, from March 1, this fee will increase to 3.06 rubles per kilometer.
How to drive people crazy! A real war begins in Dagestan. The police beat everyone indiscriminately. Video appeared
“Truckers’ strike Fuck Putin and everything will fall apart, there are no other options, why the f*ck are they beating people???”, they write in the comments
Truck drivers in Dagestan accused the authorities of ignoring protests
Today, the leader of the Association of Russian Carriers, Andrei Bazhutin, met with truck drivers protesting in Dagestan. The meeting participants stated that during the 12 days of the strike, federal television channels did not dare to reliably cover the protests, and local authorities did not enter into dialogue.
The Platon system for collecting tolls for heavy trucks on federal highways was launched in November 2015. The company operating this system belongs to Igor Rotenberg, the son of Russian billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, a close associate of Vladimir Putin.
Truckers intend to stand until the end
Today, near the village of Manas, where a protest against the Platon system is taking place, Dagestani truckers met with the head of the Association of Russian Carriers, Andrei Bazhutin. The head of the Dagestan Truck Drivers Association, Rustam Malamagomedov, also came from Moscow to the meeting. According to the participants of the meeting, more than a thousand people took part in it, the Caucasian Knot correspondent reports.
Speaking to local drivers, Bazhutin expressed admiration for their unity and said that now “all of Russia is looking at Dagestan.” He called on his Dagestani colleagues to “stand to the end,” because if they disperse now, it is not known whether they will be able to gather again.
Federal media continue to ignore the protest of truckers; journalists from state channels did not want to come to the meeting, the leader of the movement stated.
“The media should be ashamed of their position,” he emphasized.
Malamagomedov supported Bazhutin’s speech; together they called on drivers not to give in to provocations under any circumstances, to show patience and go to the end.
The authorities in Dagestan refuse to listen to truckers, a participant in the Dagestan action said at the meeting Idris Magomedov .
"We have been standing for 12 days, and the authorities have not listened to the truckers. Every day more and more people are joining us, people are coming from the outskirts. If the government had heard us, we would not be standing here! Everyone has work, problems, family, but people are not going to leave. Today we have one result – the authorities don’t care about us,” he emphasized.
Truckers come from all the republics of the North Caucasus to support the Dagestan action, he noted.
In February 2017, the government decided to double the tariff in the Platon system from April 15 - from 1.53 to 3.06 rubles per kilometer. On March 23, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, after a meeting with associations of road carriers, signed a decree according to which the tariff so far increases only by 25% - to 1.91 rubles per kilometer.
Bazhutin: Medvedev should meet with real carriers, not fake ones
The main goal of the protest is the abolition of Platon, but first, truckers need to achieve the implementation of an “intermediate goal” - a meeting with Transport Minister Sokolov and Prime Minister Medvedev, Andrei Bazhutin told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.
“Sokolov and Medvedev must meet with representatives of the transport community from all regions. We all have certain requirements. We drive on the same roads, this concerns us all,” he emphasized.
Ministers should meet “with real carriers, and not with that fake ( from English fake - fake) with whom Medvedev met,” Bazhutin continued. Vladimir Matyagin and Sergei Sapronov, who spoke on behalf of truckers at the March meeting with the prime minister, are not spokespersons for the position of truckers, he is sure.
“They could not represent these people who are protesting here; there was no representation from them or from their colleagues from other regions at the meeting with the chairman of the Russian government,” Bazhutin said.
"Everyone understands us, except the authorities"
The Dagestan protest continues under the close attention of security forces, the Caucasian Knot correspondent reports. Along the federal highway, in the space where the protesting truckers are standing, riot police officers are standing almost every 5 meters. There are four military Ural vehicles parked near the Manas ring, and police patrols are on duty in several places.
Compared to yesterday, there are fewer law enforcement officers, a truck driver told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent Arsen Saidov .
“Yesterday, apparently, they received a signal that a convoy from Makhachkala was coming to support us, and many security forces were here. Last evening, most of them left. Those who were patrolling here before this remained, they are just standing along the highway, apparently so that we don’t try to block it,” he said, adding that truckers are not going to do this.
Traffic police officers patrol this area around the clock, control traffic, and do not allow passing cars to stop near the highway, Saidov continued.
“All this, apparently, is being done to avoid traffic jams. In general, now we have normal relations with the police, they don’t bother us. They just ask us not to disturb public order,” the carrier said.
He also explained that some drivers go home at night - mainly those who live in nearby villages. But most of the protesters stand around the clock at the site where the strike is taking place. Those who do not go home for the night are treated for free in cafes located nearby.
“People are trying to help us in whatever way they can. Everyone understands us, except the authorities,” Arsen said.
The "Caucasian Knot" posts materials about protests by drivers and owners of heavy vehicles on the thematic page "Truckers against "Plato"".
As the truckers themselves explained to a KAVPOLIT correspondent, the owner of the land on which the entrepreneurs left their vehicles stated that the drivers occupied his land illegally and now he is demanding the release of his land.
The police demanded that the truckers leave the foreign territory. However, the strikers refused to leave. People did not believe that the initiator of this dispersal was the owner of the site and asked that the owner personally tell them of his desire.
As a result, about 25 people were detained by police. Moreover, the security forces did not distinguish who was a truck driver and who was just a person passing by, so it is possible that among those detained there were also citizens who happened to be in the crowd.
At the moment, most of the cars remain in the same place. The detainees were allegedly taken to the Kumtorkalinsky district.