Russia’s liberal Yabloko party has asked prosecutors to investigate reports that state employees are being coerced into attending a rally in Moscow this weekend in support of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s presidency bid.
Yabloko acted after liberal media and bloggers logged dozens of complaints from state employees, including postal workers and school teachers, that they were being threatened with fines and demotions if they refused to attend. Bonuses and “late breakfasts” have been offered in return for attending.
The pro-Putin rally's organizing committee admitted the move but said it was at local officials’ “own initiative.”
“Some will come themselves, but others use their own mechanisms and levers for the event to happen. Somebody can pay people to go,” committee member Dmitry Galochkin told the liberal Dozhd TV channel on Wednesday.
Russia’s Public Chamber, a monitoring body with no powers which oversees the government and parliament, has set up a hotline for the affected teachers.
Several dozen complaints have been registered already, chamber member Sergei Volkov told RIA Novosti.
The rally in Moscow’s Poklonnaya Gora park this Saturday will take place at the same time as a mass opposition march is held in a different part of the city.
Last week, hundreds of participants were bussed in for a pro-Putin rally in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
Claims of vote-rigging in favor of Putin’s United Russia party at December’s parliamentary polls have sparked the biggest anti-government protests seen in Russia since Soviet times.
Putin is widely predicted to win the March 4 election, but analysts suggest growing public discontent could see him forced into a runoff.
Putin poured scorn on protesters during a televised phone-in show last month, saying they were paid agents of the West and comparing their protest symbol, a white ribbon, to a condom.
Unconfirmed reports also say Moscow’s schoolchildren will be summoned for a “career training day” on February 4, the day of the protests.
High school students were forced to sit tests during previous anti-government demonstrations last month. The city government’s education department said the move was not linked to the “political events.”
More than 25,000 people indicated on Facebook their intention to attend the opposition demonstration this Saturday.
