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after Hearing about thousands of unauthorized street protest in Khabarovsk in support of detained by the security forces of the Governor of edge Sergey Furgala, I immediately remembered an old anecdote about a meeting of a klutz with a goldfish. “What do you want, starch?” — “You want me to have all of it!” “Well, you had everything. But it’s been!” A Russian Governor wants to swim in the ocean of the people’s selfless love! Governor Furgala did it, but it does not help. The fate of the policy, which is still formally listed by the Governor of the fourth largest region of the Russian Federation, sealed. Security forces just will not let him out of his grasping arms. But the tumultuous events in Khabarovsk affect not only and not so much personally Sergey Furgala. Mass spontaneous demonstrations testify to the presence in society of a powerful and at the moment not very satisfied of the request for respect from the government and security forces.

the Federal center events in Khabarovsk Krai consider, however, not too massive and not very natural. As told to me by an informed source in Moscow, “the outburst of popular anger” was organized very competent in political terms, the team of Sergey Furgala, which still retains control of the regional administration. I believe that the way it is. In order to turn one of the most important Russian regions in the zone of continuous influence of the liberal democratic party, do require considerable political talents. But try to see the situation in perspective. In terms of the availability of skilled, competent professional polittehnologov the team of the Moscow mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, was no less gifted than entourage Sergey Furgala. However when in 2010 President Medvedev took Yuri Mikhailovich from the post because of “loss of confidence”, any spontaneous or not spontaneous mass popular protests in the capital was not observed. Officials from the team retired mayor even did not occur to them to organize, and ordinary citizens — to participate in them.

Why after detention Sergey Furgala events in Khabarovsk went to a completely different scenario? This is partly due to specific features of the Far East. For the first time five years ago at Sakhalin, I was surprised to hear locals say “you there, in Russia”, and then wonder ceased. The far East differs in that for lack of a better term, can be called a highly developed sense of regional identity.

It is in any case not separatism: separate from “you there, in Russia” here, no one seriously committed. It is rather a constant readiness to revolt against the Federal center, a kind of eternal grudge against Moscow and a passionate desire to ensure that the Fareat East of the saddle not some unfamiliar Metropolitan Vikings, and local. In other words, “local patriotism” is developed here to a much higher extent than in the European territories of Russia. But I still think the phenomena and sentiments that appeared in Khabarovsk in a particularly concentrated version, albeit in less striking form, exist in other regions of the Russian Federation. After all, it is not only in small-town patriotism. The matter is very painful reactions of people to situations which could be perceived as evidence of a disrespectful attitude from the authorities.

In the history of the fall of Sergey Furgala is important not only what happened but also how it happened. In order Furgal became head of the Khabarovsk territory, took two rounds of national voting. In order Furgal de facto ceased to be the head of the region, sufficient was only the arrival of several operatives from Moscow who unceremoniously bent over the incumbent Governor. People felt that they were deprived of the right to vote, that their choice was “reset”. This, of course, does not appeal to the fact that Furgala should have left alone. If you receive compelling evidence that the current Governor is involved in the organization of assassinations, the option “leave the Governor alone” simply does not exist. It is a call to ensure that the security forces have learned to observe a certain etiquette in relations with society.

I still have no idea how it might look like the etiquette of procedure in such unusual circumstances. I have to do this just lacks imagination. But I think it is humiliating for the Khabarovsk region the fact that from a formal point of view they now run from prison. And I think it is very alarming the General reaction of the Russian public for the arrest of Sergey Furgala. The official explanation of the reasons for the arrest of the Governor was met with undisguised skepticism. But the popularity associated with the detention of various conspiracy theories, by contrast, was downright dizzying. No evidence it all that the society has accumulated a huge amount of distrust towards the security forces? And whether it is connected with the absence of security forces to the aforementioned etiquette? Of course, the main task of guards is to fight crime, not to comply with the politeness. But the fact of the matter is that to perform this main task much easier and more effective in the presence of strong public support, not the mass public distrust.

From the point of view of political tactics negative political consequences of the arrest of the Governor of the Khabarovsk Krai cropped very simple. I am very critical of Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party. However, the choices Khabarovsk ��Paradise made in several recent elections, speaks for itself. The most popular political force in the region is now the liberal democratic party. As I wrote, if the new acting Governor will be coming from that particular party (and even better — a local native of this party), it would be logically and morally justified. But what about the wall of mistrust that exists between our security forces and many citizens of Russia, I have no idea. The solution to this problem will definitely require much more time and effort — provided of course that it is in principle solvable.

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