#Russia: Civil society under attack

Film producer Nikita Mikhalkov is leading a campaign against the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Centre in Yekaterinburg in an attempt to stifle civil society and the development of democracy in Russia, writes James Wilson.

The hugely impressive complex of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Centre in Yekaterinburg includes a museum, an exhibition and conference centre, a branch of the Boris Yeltsin’s Presidential Library and a Centre for information and education activities. It was built in accordance with a decree approved in 2008 by the Russian Duma, the Parliament of the Russian Federation, and was officially opened in November 2015 at a ceremony officiated by President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the cultural authorities of the Russian Federation and Naina Yeltsina the widow of the late Boris Yeltsin.

The Presidential Centre honours the memory of President Yeltsin and is dedicated to the promotion of “the institution of the Russian Presidency and the development of civil society, democratic institutions and the rule of law” in the Russian Federation. The Centre also organises vibrant social and cultural activities, helping to promote the development of tourism and academic excellence in the third largest city of Russia. It is one of the few institutions in Russia that provide education about democratic values and elections

This lively and multicultural non-government organisation has however come under severe criticism by film producer and cultural icon Nikita Mikhalkov.

The accusation from Mikhalkov is that the Yeltsin Centre is a tool to spread Western influence in Russia. Mikhalkov is a recognised media figure in Russia, and has a powerful network which lends strength to the issues he campaigns on; he is known to respect the Kremlin line and is an extreme defender of traditional patriotic views that glorify Russia’s autocratic past and which demonise the West as Russia’s enemy. He exploits his popularity and his influential personal network in cultural and media circles to promote an aggressive nationalist agenda.

Mikhalkov comes from a distinguished family of famous Russian artists; he is an actor and director and heads the Russian cinematographers’ union. He also hosts the TV Show “Besogon TV” (“The Exorcist TV”), through which he portrays the West as the ultimate enemy of the Russian Federation; on the TV show he demonises the civil society organisations claiming that they tarnish the image of the Russian Federation.

Mikhalkov has attacked the Centre on several occasions. In March 2016 he criticised a short animated film on Russian history released by the Yeltsin Centre, calling it “a symbol of the destruction of Russia” claiming that it portrayed a distorted narrative of Russia’s past history.

A second attack came in July 2016, when Mikhalkov accused the Yeltsin Centre of being linked to the activities of the “sinister” US billionaire George Soros. He accused Soros of financing the printing and distribution of polemic textbooks to Russian schools to corrupt the minds of students with Western values.

Again in December of last year Mikhalkov addressed the Council of the Russian Federation calling upon the government to shut down the Centre or to curb its activities. He argued that the Centre should be reoriented to a more nationalist agenda on the grounds that the Centre promotes individualism and poisons the minds of its visitors with a distorted view of Russia. Visiting the Centre a few days after this tirade, he accused the Centre of wrongly portraying Yeltsin as Russia’s saviour and that the exhibitions on display only featured members of Russia’s liberal intelligentsia.

This sustained campaign by Mikhalkov against the Boris Yeltsin Centre is detrimental to the activities of all Non-Government Organisations, both in Russia and abroad, and their efforts to foster the development of civil society in Russia. Mikhalkov’s campaign should be condemned and refuted for what it is: an attack by Russian right-wing extremists on the independence of thought and freedom of decision of the electorate concerning their democratic future.

This attack is even more serious when viewed against the background of the so-called “foreign agent law” which has drastically limited the activities of several NGOs engaged in the development of democracy such as the non-governmental polling and social research organization the Levada Centre and the Memorial Human Rights Centre, an organization monitoring the respect of human rights in Russia.

So far, Mikhalkov’s aggressive campaign has failed to gather the support of the Russian authorities. But, the threat he poses needs to be contained not only to avoid the loss of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Centre, but also to maintain the freedom of expression of the supporters of freedom and democracy, both inside the country and exiles campaigning abroad such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

James Wilson is the founding director of the International Foundation for Better Governance.

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