Kuban farmers report fictitious forum organized by power agents

30 participants of the "tractor march" came to the city of Yeisk to take part in a non-existent event; however, they managed to timely leave the city, said Kuban (Krasnodar Territory) farmers. By the assumption of farmers, the fictitious meeting was organized by power agents with the aim to arrest activists.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 21, Kuban farmers held a rally in the village of Kazanskaya, opposing the raiders' captures of land plots by huge agricultural holdings; and on the same day they started their tractor rally to Moscow. They were stopped by policemen in the Krasnodar Territory and Rostov Region; many of the activists were fined or arrested for the participation in the action.

According to Olga Golubyatnikova, a member of the Public Oversight Commission (POC), of the Krasnodar Territory, from September 22 "she received calls to her mobile phone from a man who introduced himself as an employee of the 'Seven Seas' Information Agency."

"He asked me to help to organize a meeting of journalists with the farmers of the Pavlovsky and Kavkazsky Districts, who had travelled to Moscow and met members of the Presidential Council on Human Rights there," Olga Golubyatnikova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to her story, the meeting with farmers was scheduled for September 27 in Yeisk.

"We gathered at 3:00 p.m. outside a cafe in the hotel 'Yeisk'. However, it turned out that nobody had rented a room in the hotel for the meeting," said Ms Golubyatnikova.

A total of 30 participants of the "tractor march" came to Yeisk, said, in his turn, Alexei Volchenko, the leader of the movement "Polite Farmers". "I'm sure it was a provocation of special services. Immediately upon our arrival in Yeisk, some men in civilian clothes immediately began approaching us and filming us to a video camera," Alexei Volchenko told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"They wanted to gather us in one place and arrest again, we are confident of that. Otherwise, I don't understand the need of staging such a provocation," Mr Volchenko said.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.