Person of the Week: Mikhail Kasyanov

posted 15 Feb 2016, 09:37 by Rights in Russia   [ updated 15 Feb 2016, 09:52 ]
On 9 February Mikhail Kasyanov, a leader of the opposition PARNAS political party, was attacked in a Moscow restaurant. As The New York Times reports, Ramzan Kadyrov recently posted online a menacing image of Kasyanov in the cross hairs of a sniper rifle, and in this incident, Kasyanov was 'attacked by a dozen or so men who placed a cake on his head at a restaurant.' The attackers were reported to have been of 'non-Slavic' ethnicity. On 11 February, Mikhail Kasyanov was again attacked in the city of Vladimir. On this occasion, as RFE/RL reports, he was 'pelted with eggs as he stepped out of his car'. The attackers were reported to be members of the so-called People's Liberation Movement (NOD), a radical Russian nationalist organization. According to Mikhail Kasyanov himself, on 13 February in Nizhny Novgorod 'during the whole day along with my colleagues I was under pressure, threats of physical violence', and in the evening there was a 'direct physical confrontation' between the activists of AntiMaidan and NOD on the one hand and Kasyanov and his staff on the other. 

According to Wikipedia, Mihail Kasyanov is "a Russian statesman and politician, who was the Prime Minister of Russia from May 2000 to February 2004 and minister of finance in 1999-2000. Currently, he is a chair of the political party People's Freedom Party, the leader of movement People's Democratic Union and an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin. Kasyanov was one of the leaders of the opposition coalition The Other Russia and an active participant of Dissenters' Marches. In 2008 he was refused registration as a candidate in the election of President of Russia. In 2010 he co-founded the coalition For Russia without Lawlessness and Corruption and was co-chair of the People's Freedom Party. Since 2012 Mikhail Kasyanov is a co-chair of the registered political party, Republican Party of Russia – People's Freedom Party (RPR-PARNAS). He is an active speaker during protest rallies For Fair Elections."

Photo of Mikhail Kasyanov: Wikipedia

Sources:
Andrew E. Kramer, 'Russia: Putin Opponent Is Attacked After Veiled Threat,' The New York Times, 9 February 2016
'Kremlin Critic Pelted With Eggs, In Second Attack In Recent Days,' RFE/RL, 11 February 2016
'ТО, ЧТО ПРОИСХОДИЛО В НИЖНЕМ, ВЫХОДИТ ЗА РАМКИ ОБЫЧНЫХ ПРЕДСТАВЛЕНИЙ ОБ УГРОЗАХ И ОСКОРБЛЕНИЯХ,' Mikhail Kasyanov, 13 February 2016
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