The Trans Siberian railway trip from Vladivostok
to Moscow, 9, 2230 km over 14 days, 7 trains, was as exciting as I had hoped
and I saw Russia’s politics and human rights on a Political Tours course in
Russia for my first week.
We saw different sides of the country,
starting in Far East Russia then crossing Siberia. We stopped at the vast Lake Baikal, 220 km long
and 80 km wide.
The Russian trains are well designed for
travel, we had bunks and made tea from the carriage hot water heater previuosly
a samovar. The train travels smoothly at 50 km/hr, so one can appreciate the
scenery and we explored the stations and their food on regular stops. We had a
drink in Novosibirsk station on a long stop there. Russian city architecture is varied with many
19 century buildings. The central
squares are attractive with public buildings, museums and many statues of
Lenin. The stations are attractive and well maintained and the styles change
from East to West. We saw much forest
but also big rivers and Lake Baikal. Siberian culture with smoked fish, birch
bark goods and pine nuts is present everywhere.
We travelled as a foursome (Rita,
Vincent, Ann and myself) in a 4 bed couchette and made our own coffee, tea and
picnics. Rita organised the trains in London. Rita spoke some Russian, Vincent
is a public transport expert, Ann first visited Russia in 1982 and again in the
90’s as an IT expert. Rita and I had previously visited St Petersburg and loved
the culture.
I started my Russian month with a Political
Tours week organized journalists to help one see the different aspects of a
country and facilitated by Russian journalist based in Latvia. Leonid
Ragozin. We met people across the political
spectrum especially political activists and social workers in Yekaterinaburg
and Moscow. We met Vladimir Milov, opposition
activist in a Moscow subterranean bar, he described the hurdles Putin’s
government place on the opposition, needing 2.000 signatures on a nomination
for a city councillor election and being in prison for opposition
activities. The police are unpleasant, other
inmates difficult in a shared jail and he worries about his dogs at home. A
week later he was again arrested for broadcasting about the current protests and
is back in prison. Marsha is a human rights lawyer struggling to get justice
for people in the opposition being arrested on trivial grounds. The judges
ignore well presented evidence by the defendants. For her Russia being part of
the Council of Europe is important because the final legal appeal is in
Strasbourg. The human rights problems in
Russia and the need for an opposition is palpable from these conversations.
Putin has increased wealth for average Russian and the country is visibly improving.
Putin has rewarded his cronies and prevents the opposition functioning in many ways.
Ultimately this will undermine him, but it will take a long time.
