Last Sunday Oleksandr SOLONTAI, a Ukrainian political scientist, was barred entry to Russia when he arrived at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport. Although border guards offered no reason, Solontai has a version of his own, which he shared with The Day.
Oleksandr SOLONTAI, public figure; expert, NGO Institute of Political Education:
“I last visited Moscow in May to conduct a seminar for Solidarity. We planned strategic cooperation between various non-governmental organizations and political parties of Ukraine and Russia, and everything was OK. Last Sunday we were supposed to continue our discussions and I intended to go on with my lecture on democratic methods of political activity. But, as you see, the top Russian authorities did not exactly like this. So they decided to ‘deactivate’ me right in the airport.
“The result of this Domodedovo story is that, from now on, I am a security risk for that country. In other words, I will be unable to continue maintaining public contacts with certain Russian organizations and institutions without permission from the authorities.
“It is an open secret that Russia’s ruling top finds it difficult today to stop civil protest in the country. So they began to ‘upset the applecart’ from all sides. They are looking for any pretext and opportunity to restrict contacts between the opposition groups and isolate them from the outside world.
“In my opinion, they are making a grave mistake if they think that education can be stopped by such methods as barring a lecturer from giving a lecture. In the 21st century, the era of information technologies, this approach is naive, to say the least.
“I know that the Russian authorities are now drawing up an international list of various experts, human rights activists, public figures, politicians, and journalists who will be forbidden to enter Russia. A similar process is also underway with respect to their own citizens by the principle ‘If you want democracy, leave Russia.’
“Russia is embarking on the road of authoritarianism. It is very harmful to us and to them. But I am sure things can be changed in our and their country. When we began, seven years ago, to cooperate with the Russians, hold seminars and other forums, as well as to discuss other forms of political activity, nobody believed that the events that had recently occurred in Russia would be at all possible. When I once said ‘A time will come, when hundreds of thousands of people will be taking to the streets and you will not exactly be prepared for this situation,’ some of interlocutors answered with a smile: ‘Let them just come! We will deal with them.’ And now hundreds of thousands of people are protesting against politicians – not only those in power, but also those in the opposition. People are dissatisfied with the opposition, while the opposition, not to mention the government, does not know how to address this and put the wave of public protest into a constructive channel.
“I am convinced that the methods of democratic activity, which we propagate and which everybody who deals with politics should know, are effective and can promote the development of society and the country. Besides, society wants this.”
