Protest by truck drivers in Russia

In Russia, there have been protests by truck drivers against the introduction on 15 November 2015 of high new road taxes for vehicles weighing over 12 tonnes for using the main federal highways. The fee applied to Russian carriers, which mostly operate as one-man companies, and to foreign shipping companies transporting freight on the territory of Russia. The fee for each kilometre travelled is paid via a special electronic program called ‘Platon’, which is operated by a company controlled by Putin’s friends, the Rotenberg brothers.

The protesters were calling on the President to abolish the tax , which absorb a significant portion of their earnings, and to punish those responsible for their introduction. At first, the protests were initiated in several regions of the country, but then they covered almost the whole of Russia. On 4 December 2015 a blockade of Moscow’s busy ring road wass planned, which threatened to paralyse the city. Participants said the authorities were trying to prevent the carriers from reaching the capital (the protest’s coordinators have been detained; mass checks on trucks using access roads were being carried out; clashes with the police have taken pace). This topic has been ignored in the government media. The president’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin was informed about the situation, but the protesters’ demands have not reached him. The Speaker of the Duma Sergei Naryshkin has supported the appeal to the President to abolish the ‘Platon’ system.