Moscow Times
March 6, 2006
National Protests Over Housing Fees
By Valeria Korchagina
Staff Writer
A wave of protests against growing utilities bills rolled across the nation over the weekend, with thousands of people hitting the streets to call for restrictions on price hikes and to denounce overall housing reform.
In striking contrast to the national protests over the monetization of state benefits last year, the rallies were organized not only by leftist groups but also by liberals, including State Duma Deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov, who heads the Republican Party.
Protests over housing reform have been simmering since the start of the year, when rates increased across the board. The Kremlin is keeping a sharp eye out for unrest ahead of parliamentary elections in 2007 and the presidential vote in 2008.
"A common bane -- the housing reform -- has united all, the right and the left, the entire country," Duma Deputy Anatoly Lokot, who heads the Novosibirsk branch of the Communist Party, told a crowd of 6,000 people in Novosibirsk on Friday, Interfax reported.
Ryzhkov told about 60 supporters on Slavyanskaya Ploshchad in central Moscow on Sunday that housing bills grew an average of 15 percent at the start of the year, but that they shot up by 30 percent in some regions. "If pensions are increasing by only to 7 or 8 percent, how can it be that housing costs are growing much faster?" he said.
Ryzhkov called for more transparency in the filing of proposed utility fee hikes to the Duma and said electricity company Unified Energy Systems and gas giant Gazprom should be required to fully disclose their financial statements.
"If we knew the precise amount of revenues, perks to management and other expenditures, I am sure there would be reserves within the companies that would allow the prices to be lower," he said.
Ryzhkov said he and his colleagues had drafted a bill seven months ago that would provide more transparency, but United Russia deputies were blocking the legislation from coming up for discussion.
"I am planning to bring up the results of the protests at a State Duma session soon to make sure that the bill is discussed," Ryzhkov said, noting that under the law bills have to be discussed within two months of submission.
Despite the relatively small number of people who showed up in Moscow on Sunday, Ryzhkov said about 10,000 more joined protests in other cities, including 2,500 in Velikiye Luki, in the Pskov region; 1,500 in Pereslavl Zalessky, in the Yaroslavl region; and 1,500 in his hometown of Barnaul in the Altai region. "Lots of people also hit the streets in Astrakhan and Tomsk," he said.
The largest protests, however, were led by left-leaning politicians.
Lokot told the crowd in Novosibirsk that utility costs for city households had increased by 27 percent and warned that another law posed an even graver problem. The law, which comes into effect next year, would allow authorities to evict residents who fail to pay utility bills.
The law also assumes that costly structural repairs in residential buildings would be conducted at the expense of the residents. Such repairs are long overdue for scores of buildings across the country because local authorities have failed to step in. At the same time, residents have for decades been obliged to pay a monthly fee for future repairs.
Left-leaning protests against housing reforms and growing prices took place over the weekend in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ufa, Krasnoyarsk, Vladivostok, Yaroslavl, Voronezh, Ulyanovsk and many other cities.
In Voronezh, police detained 12 young activists from Rodina and the National Bolshevik Party, Interfax reported. The report did not say why the activists were detained.
Protesters marched through their cities and blocked main roads in many areas.
Some expanded their protests beyond housing. In Ufa, for example, protesters also called for free higher education, guarantees of employment after graduation and lower prices for sugar, Interfax reported Saturday.
Although many protests were led by Communists, other political parties also joined in, including Yabloko in a rally in St. Petersburg.
Some people said they cared more about protesting than showing their allegiance to a political party.
"I go everywhere: to the Communists, United Russia, Ryzhkov with his party. If the devil calls a protest, I'll go as long as there is a chance that our lives might get better as result," said Nina Gulicheva, an 82-year-old World War II veteran wearing bright red lipstick and a small mountain of war medals on her chest. On Sunday, she was among Ryzhkov's supporters.
[] The government will increase pensions by 6 percent and raise the salaries of ambulance services employees from July 1, Health and Social Development Minister Mikhail Zurabov said Friday during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Interfax reported.