On March 27, truckers across Russia took to the streets to demand that the Platon toll be annulled, as tariffs are expected to grow in mid-April. Truck drivers from Dagestan were the most active: 4,000 vehicles took part in local protests which lasted all of last week. Authorities sent Russia’s National Guard in with tanks. Meduza relates what happened in a nutshell.
The reason behind the Russia-wide truckers protest was an increase in tariffs for the Platon toll, which is essentially a tax on the drivers of heavy vehicles launched in the fall of 2015 to compensate for the damage they cause to roads. Owning half of the company’s shares, Igor Rotenberg – son of billionaire Arkadiy Rotenberg – is considered Platon’s beneficiary. The toll immediately evoked a sense of discontent amongst drivers, and then authorities announced a twofold increase in tariffs starting in April 2017 (subsequently deciding that there would be an increase of 25%).
Dagestan’s demonstrations began with a rally and an auto rally involving around 600 cars. Participants were addressed by the deputy head of the Republic’s transport ministry Yakub Khudzhayev, who admitted that it was impossible to effect change at the regional level, but promised to pass the truckers’ demands on to federal authorities. The demonstration continued after that as truckers blocked the passage of heavy vehicles along the Russia’s Rostov-on-Don – Baku highway.
By the end of the week, up to 4,000 vehicles had participated in the Dagestan protests. Novaya Gazeta reported that some truckers had been detained, as they were allegedly holding stones and Molotov cocktails, but there has been no official confirmation of this information. It must be noted that a significant number of trucks enter Russia from Azerbaijan and Iran along the Rostov-on-Don – Baku highway.
On March 31, one of the truckers’ camps was blocked by the military. Soldiers from Rosgvardiya – Russia’s National Guard – were dropped off at the parking lot near the village of Manas (20 kilometers south of Makhachkala) and at least one tank was reported. According to eyewitnesses, the protesters were surrounded and their cellular network was blocked. The soldiers and their equipment remained at the parking lot until the evening of April 2, when the greater part of the fighters were transferred several kilometers away with only “an insignificant number” remaining.
Participants of the Manas protest refused to disperse. Local transport minister Yakub Khudzhayev met with the protesting truckers yet again and promised to arrange their future meeting with the Dagestani authorities, but one of the demonstration organizers told reporters that the truckers would not leave until their demands were met.
Konstantin Benyumov