ST PETERSBURG, Russia, (Reuters) – Police in Vladimir Putin’s hometown seized pamphlets criticising the prime minister on the eve of a high-profile business forum showcasing Russia, opposition leaders said yesterday.
St. Petersburg police confiscated 100,000 copies of a new report on Putin’s decade in power co-authored by Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, said Olga Kurnosova, head of the local branch of the opposition United Civil Front.
Kurnosova and Nemtsov, a prominent politician and a vocal Putin critic, contended police were trying to keep the 45-page report from the public and visitors at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which starts today.
“The police had the task of preventing the distribution of the report during the forum among its participants and citizens,” Kurnosova told Reuters. St. Petersburg police declined to comment.
Police held the driver of the vehicle that was delivering the pamphlets for several hours, Kurnosova said.
She said police told her they had sent the pamphlet to be checked for evidence of extremism — a tactic opposition politicians say Russian authorities sometimes use to stifle criticism — and that the check would take two or three days.
