The law came into force from January 1st 2005, but the people really felt it only on January 11th, when the holidays passed. The awakening of the people in the morning of January 11th was not a happy one. Here is what the press wrote at that time. Nezavisimaya Gazeta on 01.12.05. The article “The Veterans Took Their Crutches” with the subtitle “The most unprotected levels of the population gave a hostile reception to the monetization of benefits”: “The Russian benefit holders who just finished to celebrate the holidays granted by the State Duma, only after they ended realized that they are already living in another country. Most of the Russians who, in the last years, had, for example, the right to free public transport, realized that the State that has promised them monetary compensations instead of free transportation, is not in a hurry to pay them. In the end the population ‘sobered up’ without even having the time to celebrate. The first to rebel were the pensioners living in Khimki, near Moscow. Monday, several hundreds of people, on the initiative of the local Pensioners’ Union blocked Leningradskoe road and demanded, ‘to be joined to the capital’, where the transport benefits were kept on the account of the local budget. In order to free the road, the law enforcing bodies had to intervene. /…/ Yesterday in the afternoon Moscow region’s official site published a comment on the Khimki events by the governor Boris Gromov. As it is told /…/ he pointed out that similar actions have also taken place in Dubna, Solnechnogorsk, Mitishi and Ramenski district. But only in Khimki did an unsanctioned meeting grow into a road blocking. In result for over two hours automobile traffic was paralyzed and air traffic was disrupted. /…/ As it was said in the press release, the fact that these meetings are well planned and prepared is suspicious. The governor emphasized that those who push the pensioners to commit such actions, as a rule do not participate themselves in these meetings and actions. /…/ Boris Gromov asked the citizens of the Moscow region not to yield to provocations next time. (According to other sources, Gromov accused the National-Bolsheviks of organizing the meeting of Khimki’s pensioners.)
The initiative of Moscow’s suburbs was on the same day supported in Russia’s other regions. In Almetyevsk (Tatarstan) about five thousand citizens came out on a meeting demanding to restore the free transport and cancel the one-hundred-percent fee for the residential services. This happened despite the declaration of the republic’s president Shaymiev that the budget has money for the monetization. The problem is worsened by Tatarstan’s transfer to a one-hundred-percent fee for residential services. /…/
In Ufa, over four thousand residents came out on a protest action organized by the local CPRF department.
Samara’s war and labor veterans as well as home front workers blocked one of the center’s main roads – Revolution Street- for two hours and held an unsanctioned meeting. The protest action was held under the leadership of the CPRF and the NBP. From January 1st the cost of a transport ticket in Samara has gone up by one ruble to reach 7 rubles. Former benefit holders are guaranteed the money equivalent of only 18 trips per month. Samara’s conductors and ticket collectors notice many attempts by the elderly passengers to refuse to pay their ticket. /…/ In Kaliningrad, for instance a security guard from whom the ticket collector of a city tramway demanded to pay his ticket, called his armed colleagues for help. In result the wagon and all the other tramways of that line stood 40 minutes on the tracks and charges were brought against the conductor Galina Omelchenko. The police officers referred to the order of the region’s police chief, major general Sergey Kirichenko, who demanded, ‘to immediately take measures for stopping any actions from transport employees towards police officers on duty’. /…/ The Baltic Navy officers were also put in a difficult situation. As the Baltic Navy commander, admiral Vladimir Valuyev, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta, the Navy has not received the promised money either. At the same time a significant part of the officers and warrant officers reside in Kaliningrad and serve in Baltiisk and the transport fare is now 40 rubles.
In the capital of Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Cherkessk, a veteran has beaten a female ticket collector with crutches, when she asked the old man to pay for his ticket on a tramway. /…/
In the Saratov region only federal benefit holders (170 000 people) met the New Year with the promised compensations. The authorities’ promise that until January 11th all benefit holders will not be thrown out of public transport was not held.
In the Sverdlov region, where the former system of benefits was extended until April 1st, already now benefit holders are denied free transport. /…/
The residents of the Volgogradsk region were also lucky: this region became one of the few, in which regional benefits remain in kind until June 1st 2005. /…/ In all, according to the data of the Department of the population’s social protection, there are 270 000 regional benefit holders in the region and 240 000 federal ones. If monetary compensation is introduced with 200 rubles to a labor veteran and 300 rubles to a home front worker, the Volgograd region alone will need 2,2 billion rubles for these payments. As for the project of the federal budget for 2005, it foresees 8 billion rubles for all the country’s regions as compensations.” The overview was prepared by the materials of Nezavisimaya Gazeta correspondents in the regions and shows the evil cruelty, savagery and complete irresponsibility of the Kremlin and all its ministers and of course, the president who put his signature under Law Number 122.
In Saint Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, the situation turned out to be the most wrought up. I cite the site “NBP-info” on 01.17.05. “Saint Petersburg: third day of the demonstrations. The demands of the citizens: a meeting with Matvienko. Historical events are taking place in Saint Petersburg these days – practically, it is a new revolution. The authorities, afraid of the mass protest of the citizens headed by the recently formed coalition NBP-Yabloko-CPRF started to make concessions. The pensioners were given the possibility to travel for free. But the people want more: they demand to return all the taken benefits, let out all political prisoners from prisons, they demand Putin’s and Matvienko’s resignation. The chairman of the Saint Petersburg Committee on the administration’s social policy, Alexander Rzhanekov, who was beaten up by pensioners on a meeting, transmitted Valentina Matvienko’s proposal to meet the representatives of the demonstrators. The leaders of the city’s departments of NBP, Yabloko and CPRF worked out rather radical demands to the municipal authorities (reflecting the attitude of the demonstrators) and tomorrow at noon will present them to the governor when they will meet her personally. In case they are not fulfilled mass protest actions with the blocking of downtown will continue. The demands of the citizens who took part in the 01.14-16.05 protest actions in Saint Petersburg. There are ten demands: 1. Withheld the action of Law Number 122 on the territory of Saint Petersburg and prepare a legislative initiative to cancel this law, as violating the RF constitution. 2. Prepare and adopt a resolution to restore the earlier existing transport benefits for all categories of citizens. /…/ 4. Adopt a resolution to keep the benefits on suburb transport. /…/ Restore the telephone benefits for all categories of citizens who used these benefits before. /…/ 6. Introduce a legislative initiative to increase the basic pension from 650 to 3000 rubles. 7. Introduce an initiative to make the 2005 budget law in accordance with the budget code in the part about the distribution of the budget between the federal center and the regions in a 50/50 proportion. /…/ And finally, point 9. The governor must inform the federal power and the public about the position of the protesters about the necessity to revise the sentence to the NBP members who captured Zurabov’s office; the removal of the unfounded accusations in violent seizure of power for the capture of the president’s administration by NBP members since the young activists expressed the lawful demands of the citizens. Signed by: V. I. Fedorov, first CPRF secretary of Saint Petersburg, M. Reznik, chairman of Saint Petersburg’s Yabloko, A. Dmitriev, chairman of Saint Petersburg’s NBP, O. Kurnosova, secretary of the Civil Union, E. Kozlov, chairman of the Committee of United Actions, G. Belkova, co-chairman of the Movement of Civil Initiatives.”