Analytical media project “The reflection of Russian social and political life in the Russian...

THE REFLECTION OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE OF RUSSIA

IN THE BLOGOSPHERE

ANALYTICAL MEDIA-PROJECT (October 2012)

In October 2012, internet users actively discussed a wide range of

social and political topics in the Russian blogosphere. The following events

drew a wide response and provoked active discussions within the blogosphere:

President Putin’s birthday;

shooting from a wedding motorcade in Moscow;

appeal and reopening the proceeding on the case of Pussy Riot punk group;

mayoral elections of Khimki;

the death of Marina Golub, an actress and television anchorwoman, who was killed in a car accident;

electoral campaigns in the regions of Russia on October 14;

election to the Coordination Committee of the opposition and its launch;

Udal’tsov’s case (Sergey Udal’tsov - the leader of the Left Front);

the statement of Georgy Poltavchenko, Governor of Saint Petersburg, about citizens-“jerks”;

the arrest and detention of L. Razvozzhaev, an activist of the Left Front;

the conflict between the “Night Wolves” and “Three Roads” motorcycle clubs;

the Putin’s alleged illness;

scandalous poster of the President of the Udmurt Republic.

2CONTENT STRUCTURE DYNAMICS OF THE BLOGOSPHERE IN THE MEDIA,

OCTOBER 2012

In October, the dynamics of content structure of the blogosphere in the media looks as following:

The main social and political topics discussed on top LiveJournal blogs from October 1 to October 7:


© Communication Group G3. WEB: http://www.g3-group.com E-mail: [email protected] Tel:+7 495 648-53-18

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mailto:[email protected]

http://www.g3-group.com/

3The main social and political topics discussed on top LiveJournal blogs from October 15 to October 21:



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4QUALITATIVE STRUCTURE OF THE BLOGOSPHERE IN THE MEDIA

The analysis of the qualitative structure of the Russian blogosphere in

the media showed that, in general, bloggers criticized the current state

power. The share of critical messages varied from 62% to 69% in October,

which means, in fact, that it remained highly stable. The analysis of

messages’ content coloring in October displays a stable opposition of

blogs ’owners to the state power.

The analysis proves not only the presence of oppositional mood in the

blogosphere, but the inclination of blogs’ owners and their readers to depict

any event in political light and immediately blame the state power for diverse

of things.

This tendency states that LiveJournal and Twitter are becoming the

main opposition’s mouthpiece, as well as the main method oppositionists can

use to communicate with critically set citizens. It is significant that the

share of the messages criticizing the state power remained on the same

level from week to week (approximately 2/3 out of total amount), which


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5proves the qualitative structure stability of the blogosphere in the media.

The share of messages with positive attitude towards the state power was

growing only if they were posted by obviously pro-Government bloggers.

Critics of the state power is basically connected with such issues as

irremovability of the government, policy of the government for migration,

blaming officials for corruption, falsification and infringement during the

electoral campaigns in the regions of the Russian Federation, political pressure

on opposition, administrative dereliction, which launched the chain of accidents

caused Marina Golub’s death, severe sentences in the Pussy Riot’s case, and

the government policy which empower the Russian Orthodox Church to

become a sufficiently influential institution. Besides, in October, the bloggers

criticized the government’s attempts to draw citizens’ attention away from the

election of oppositionists to the Coordination Committee of the opposition,

hackers’ attacks to the website where the election was hold (the government

is imputed with the attacks), and tough measures for Leonid Pazvozzhaev

and other political prisoners.

At the same time, the share of the messages approving the state

power is not stable. Thus, it fluctuated from 20% in the beginning of

October to 10% in the end. It may be caused by artificial origin of some

amount of messages posted by so called “sentinels”, for example, on

President Putin’s birthday. As a result, we can see the random “jumps” on

the diagram, which illustrates the qualitative structure dynamics of the

blogosphere in the media.

It should be noted especially that the blogosphere took an active part

in discussion of different social and political issues: bloggers quickly

responded to events, although topic’s life is always short, bloggers and

readers quickly shifted from one topic they discussed some hours ago and

focused on a new one.

The special feature of the Russian blogosphere imprints on the format

of on-line information campaigns.


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6ANALYSIS OF THE MAIN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TOPICS DISCUSSED

WITHIN THE RUSSIAN BLOGOSPHERE, OCTOBER 2012

The recent analysis of the main social and political topics discussed

within the blogosphere showed that over a long period in October bloggers

were focused on the election to the Coordination Committee of the

opposition and its launch, which formed favorable publicity both for

LiveJournal and Twitter. The candidates’ debate became the main news story

in the context of election to the Coordination Committee discussion. Bloggers

discussed the preparation for the election campaign as well as the process

itself (bloggers-“sentinels” criticized the candidates and voters registration

system. They were supported by some participants of the election, who

asserted that many influential leaders of opposition had not been registered

at all; the users blogged that this fact may become an evidence of a split

among oppositionists), the results of the electoral campaign, and the

personalities of the selected candidates. The discussion was maintained by

both opposition-oriented bloggers and “sentinels”.

In fact, many authors (from both sides of the “barricade”) voiced their

dissatisfaction with the small amount of voters who took part in the

election to the Coordination Committee of the opposition. The authors meant

that the institution was not legitimate as a “face” of all the opposition in

Russia.

After the electoral campaign, bloggers’ attention was focused on the

first meeting of the Committee and its first action - single pickets in

the center of Moscow, which could be posted without authorities’

permission, to support political prisoners;

President Putin’s anniversary was discussed as an interim summing up

of his presidency. There were two actions which created considerable

favorable publicity: pro-Government (the birthday congratulations banner on the

building next to the Kremlin) and oppositional (the action on the street

with some “presents” for Putin).

It is significant that the topic topped within the blogosphere in terms

of the quantity of messages posted in short period of time. This phenomenon

can be explained by both the significance of the event and some amount of

sponsored messages. Some days after Putin’s anniversary, bloggers’ activity © Communication Group G3. WEB: http://www.g3-group.com E-mail: [email protected] Tel:+7 495 648-53-18

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7lowered, the total amount of messages decreased, the amount of positive

messages about the anniversary reduced, and the initiative was seized by the

opposition-oriented bloggers;

considerable amount of messages were devoted to the shooting from a

wedding motorcade in the center of Moscow. The incident caused the

negative state of public opinion in the blogosphere over the last week of

September and the first week of October. Bloggers discussed the punishment,

which the people, shooting at cars and policemen, were inflicted on, and

the “insipid” comments of the authorities on the lawless act in the center

of Moscow. The topic provoked considerable amount of messages about the

problems of migration and national intolerance. Most of the messages

discussed the crimes committed by people from Russia’s Northern Caucasus

and Middle Asia countries. In general, bloggers were critical about

disinclination of “the capital’s guests” to assimilate and follow Russian traditions

and laws;

the sentence and reopening the proceeding on the case of Pussy

Riot punk group was the most disputable topic for a long time. The topic

drew additional response because of appeal of the sentence (which was

postponed till October 10) and because of another “balaclaving” – the action

on the street hold by people wearing balaclavas of different colors to

support the girls from the punk group. The bloggers were also satisfied by

the fact that the court decided to exchange Ekaterina Samutsevich’s

imprisonment for suspended sentence. Many bloggers criticized the punk

group’s advocates: some bloggers decided that the advocates were interested

in judgment of guilty and did not defend the girls. The topic drew

additional response after some information about the leading record labels

ready to make a world tour contract with Pussy Riot was “thrown in”;

preparation for the mayoral elections of Khimki, where Evgeniya

Chirikova, one of the popular representatives of the opposition, took part,

the electoral campaign itself and its results were top topics in the

blogosphere. Many bloggers described the actions “Agitate Khimki” hold by the

opposition and the Khimki administration’s measures, which supposedly impeded

the agitation campaign of Evgeniya Chirikova, a candidate from the opposition.

Bloggers were considerably interested in the “blast” of negative information in


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8the blog of Aleksey Navalnyi, a civil rights activist, about Oleg Shakhov,

acting Mayor of Khimki;

the death of Marina Golub, an actress and television anchorwoman,

who was killed in a car accident, became one of the most disputable

topics in the middle of October. The bloggers immediately interpreted the

tragedy as a social and political event. The messages blamed the authorities

for lack of control over illegal taxi drivers in Moscow. The fact, that the

man, who was driving the car, where the actress died, had been

disqualified from driving, poured oil on the flames. Besides, bloggers blamed

the authorities for connivance, because the probable perpetrator of the

accident had been made answerable for traffic rules’ violation, including drunk

driving, for many times. The representatives of the blogosphere believed, that

M. Golub died, because the two drivers could give bribes to traffic

policemen and continue driving;

electoral campaigns in 77 regions of the Russian Federation

(including the election of governors in 5 regions) on October 14, became

one of the main political news stories of mid-October. Considerable amount

of the messages, as well as the messages on the mayoral elections of

Khimki, criticized the state power. On the election day, the bloggers

discussed the incidents in Tver’ and Khimki and blamed the government for

falsification. The bloggers also criticized the governing party and its candidates

for “grey” and “black” methods of fight and discussed currently established

facts of violations. The election of the Governor of Bryanskaya oblast was

given special attention; the bloggers supposed that the candidates acted in

collision in favor for the candidate for promotion from the "Edinaya Rossiya"

(United Russia) Party;

the role of the Orthodox Church in Russia is becoming more and

more actual issue. The post “15 answers of an atheist”, where popular

bloggers discussed the role of faith in human life, drew considerable

response. Actually, most LiveJournal users consider themselves to be atheists,

and criticize intensification of the Russian Orthodox Church’s influence on

secular life of the country. However, there were messages from those, who

believe in God, as well as from clergymen, among top October posts. The

discussion was hold without any incidents, the bloggers were tolerant, but


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9the topic may become more actual and radical, if new facts about

intensification of the Russian Orthodox Church appear, like that of its desire

to have its own representatives in elective bodies;

activity of the opposition, besides election to the Coordination

Committee of the opposition, was also widely discussed on LiveJournal and

Twitter tops. Several arrests of the opposition leaders drew considerable

respond, for example, “Udal’tsov’s case”. Sergey Udal’tsov, the leader of the

Left Front, was detained and had to give a written undertaking not to

leave the place. It happened after the film “Anatomy of Protest – 2”,

where journalists revealed the facts of mass riots and disturbances

preparation, had been broadcast on NTV-channel;

the blogosphere also discussed the arrest of Leonid Razvozzhaev (the

Left Front activist and aide to Il’ya Ponomarev, the State Duma deputy),

who was detained as a result of special police operation within the mass

disturbances at Bolotnaya square case. The disturbances took place during the

meeting of the opposition on May 6. According to mass media, Razvozzhaev

applied for giving himself up, but later he disavowed his application and

explained that he was forced to do it being subjected to tortures by secret

intelligence service. Most of the messages about the case were negative in

relation to the current authorities: the users blogged that unskillful detection

and investigation let the authorities make Razvozzhaev a kind of a martyr

(there were some references to the similar image of Pussy Riot punk group);

the blogosphere violently responded on the statement of Georgy

Poltavchenko, Governor of Saint Petersburg, about the citizens-“jerks”. The

Governor used the word to call the citizens who gave improper signs and

honked being caught in the traffic jam caused by traffic blocking for

governmental motorcade passage. The topic was reinforced by the trick of

the “Zenit” football club’s fans, who sang the song “Governor, the jerk” at

a football match. The bloggers think that the Governor Poltavchenko should

announce his resignation, because the citizens have become “jerks” since he

became the Governor of Saint Petersburg;

similar response was drawn by the fact that the access to popular

social networking services as well as to LiveJournal can be denied. The

issue was discussed at the meeting of the Council of Federation. The © Communication Group G3. WEB: http://www.g3-group.com E-mail: [email protected] Tel:+7 495 648-53-18

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10members of the Upper Chamber of Parliament suggested limiting the access

to those segments of blogosphere and social networking services, which are

located abroad, and cannot be under the jurisdiction of Russia. The topic

was discussed by top bloggers, but did not draw expected support of

ordinary bloggers;

considerable response was drawn by the conflict between the “Night

Wolves” and “Three Roads” motorcycle clubs, when one of the bikers was

killed. The blogosphere users discussed different versions and official comments

given by the authorized representatives of the clubs. In general, the bloggers

were on the side of the “Three Roads” club: according to the mostly

approved version, the “Night Wolves” club tried to punish the “Three Roads”

club for being beyond their control and cooperation with the “Bandidos”

international club. Internal relations between the clubs became known after

one of the “Night Wolves” member’s death: he was mortally wounded in

the fight between the representatives of the clubs. The fact that the “Night

Wolves” club was supported by President Putin, who attended their events,

drew additional response to the conflict. The bloggers supposed that the

conflict could be provoked by the sense of impunity in the club caused by

the top-ranking patronage;

besides, Kurban Bayrami, a Muslim holiday, and the Putin’s alleged

illness were among top topics in the end of the month. The bloggers

began to discuss Putin’s health after a provoking message on Twitter, which

told that Putin had had a stroke. The topic was developed after the

Reuters’s news about Putin’s spine trauma. Later, both statements were

disproved by the Kremlin Press Service;

some amount of messages in the blogosphere was devoted to the

scandalous poster, depicting Aleksandr Volkov, President of the Udmurt

Republic, with a baby leopard. The bloggers spotted an expensive watch on

Volkov’s wrist. After federal bloggers’ attention had been focused on that

topic, the watch was changed for a cheaper and “simple” analog. There is

the video, which shows that a part of the poster was just re-stuck, what

is more, the sticker could be easily removed, and the expensive watch

revealed itself again. The reaction of bloggers was negative;


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11the scandal caused by corruption in the Ownership Relations

Department of the Ministry of Defense also drew bloggers’ attention in

October. Bloggers were highly negative talking about the Head of the

Ministry of Defense and his office, and suggested that the criminal cases

against some officials, including the case against the former Head of the

Ownership Relations Department, could cause the Minister’s resignation.

In October, other social and political topics were discussed within

the top blogosphere as well, but the discussions were not so intensive.

Among the topics discussed were:

the “Nord-Ost” siege anniversary (many people were sieged during “Nord-

Ost” musical performance at Moscow's Dubrovka theater);

discussion on juvenile justice laws (the topic was reinforced by a

mass action against the bill, and Finland authorities’ acts, when they took

away the children of a Russian citizen, living in Finland, because she was

suspected in assault and battery on her child: the bloggers were concerned

that juvenile justice bill would allow social service in Russia to take

children away from their families without court verdict);

the blogosphere also discussed the attack to Kirill Panchenko, a

journalist from Saint Petersburg: he was beaten by some visitors of

Russia’s Caucasus countries, when he stood up for a girl, who they too

busily tried to get acquainted with;

besides, in October, the blogosphere posted about the Law on the

Protection of the Feelings of Believers and the film “Anatomy of

Protest – 2”, broadcast on NTV-channel. The film tells about Sergey

Udal’tsov, one of the leaders of the opposition. Film makers blame Udal’tsov

for his work for foreign “agents of influence” aimed at destabilization of

political regime in Russia. The film made the bloggers suggest that Udal’tsov

could be soon accused officially;

bloggers paid attention to the post of Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a public

figure, in her Facebook account. Kryshtanovskaya described her impressions

after her holiday abroad, where almost all the hotel staff was represented


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12by Russian emigrants. Bloggers thought that Kryshtanovskaya’s attitude to her

former compatriots was improper. A message about her high-ranking position

and “Edinaya Rossia” (United Russia) Party membership appeared immediately.

Kryshtanovskaya denied her relations with the state power and the governing

party, and stated her respect to work of any kind as well as to all ex-

Soviet Union compatriots, but that did not affect the discussion;

bloggers were highly negative posting about the initiative of the

Russian Railway Company (RZhD) to increase fares for second-class sleepers

shipment. The bloggers criticized both the company management and the

Ministry of Finance, which denied subsidizing second-class sleepers shipping;

Bloggers also criticized the attack to the Russian National Air and Space

Museum at Khodynskoye Pole in Moscow, where unknown workers destroyed

one of the helicopters and seriously damaged another one. Bloggers thought

that complete destruction of warlike equipment was stopped only due to the

efficient reaction of journalists and the police. The blogosphere users

discussed different versions: from disagreement between the owners of the

equipment to a perspective of mass urban development at Khodynskoye Pole;

besides, the blogosphere discussed the activity of Aleksey Naval’nyi, a

human rights activist, and his campaign against “Edinaya Rossia” Party, the

issues of migration and national intolerance, Moscow Metro development

plan and legislators’ initiatives (internet “passportisation” and number of pets,

kept in city apartments, limitation);

LiveJournal and Twitter blogged about bribery and corruption.

Considerable attention was paid to the post of the Press Secretary of the

Federal Agency on Youth Affairs on Twitter. Anna Biryukova posted in

her “tweet” that she paid 2,000 rubles to avoid disqualification from driving.

Bloggers suggested that she gave the bribe to a traffic police officer.

Biryukova immediately deleted the post and disproved the fact; she explained

that she only tried to test her subscribers’ reaction. Later, she was

dismissed from the office;

besides, in October, the blogosphere discussed the distribution of

a “migrant workers’ manual” in Saint Petersburg, in that manual the

migrants were depicted as building tools vs the citizens who were depicted


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13as human beings, Theology Department launch at the Moscow Institute of

Physics and Technology, putting a ban on the wearing of hijab in some

schools, age limitation at concerts in The Bolshoi Zal (Grand Hall) of

Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, arrest of the perpetrator of the car

accident on Kutuzovsky Prospect.

Thus, the range of the social and political topics discussed by bloggers

was wide, and the blogosphere response on the main events in Russia was

efficient.


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14SOCIAL AND POLITICAL HASHTAGS IN THE SYSTEM OF TWITTER MICROBLOGGING

Social and political hashtag cloud on Twitter in October 2012

In general, most of the social and political hashtags were not

spontaneous; they were created deliberately by users interested in the topics.

The diagram shows, that the range of trend hashtags (key words

bloggers use in their messages to cluster them according to the topic) was

created in the system of Twitter microblogging in October. They reflected


#PutinsDay

#ПротестСлитНапример (ProtestBetrayForexample)

#ПутинЛучше

(PutinIsBetter)

#Химки2012

(Khimki2012)

#зачистыевыборы (forfairelection)

#СкучныеВыборыНаСахалине (BoringElectionsOnSakhalin)

#дебатыКС

(debatesCС)

#сливКС (betrayCС)

#ОппозицияVSоппозиция

(OppositionVSopposition)

#ВыборыКС (electionCC)

#Удальцов (Udal’tsov)

#ПуссиПрокатили (PussyChaeted)

#ЛеонидРазвозжаев (LeonidRazvozzhaev)

#Курбан (Kurban)

#Минобороны (MinistryOfDefence)

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15bloggers’ respond on the social and political events in Russia. For example,

the hashtag “#PutinsDay” is connected with President Putin’s birthday.

The main hashtags of October are: “#ProtestBetrayedForExample”

(«#ПротестСлитНапример») and “#PutinIsBetter” («#ПутинЛучше») (which

obviously belong to pro-Government users), and 5 hashtags, devoted to

Election Day in Russia (“#forfairelection”

(«#зачистыевыборы»), “#Khimki2012” («#Химки2012»), “#election”

(«#выборы»), and “#BoringElectionOnSakhalin”

(«#СкучныеВыборыНаСахалине»).

Hashtags devoted to election obviously belonged to opposition-oriented

microbloggers, because the posts with these hashtags tell about violations

committed by “Edinaya Rossiya” Party on the election day. However, some

messages described the violations committed by the opposition.

Opposition activity was reflected in such hashtags, as

#debatesCoordinationCommittee (#дебатыКС), #betrayCoordinationCommittee

(#сливКС), #OppositionVSopposition, #electionCoordinationCommittee,

#FraudCoordinationCommittee. According the hashtags, there is a controversy

between pro-Government bloggers (criticizing the election to the Coordination

Committee of the opposition) and opposition-oriented microbloggers (discussing

the election positively).

Besides, the hashtags #Udal’tsov and #Leonid Razvozzhaev, which

became bloggers’ reaction to interrogation and detention of Sergey Udal’tsov

and Leonid Razvozzhaev respectively, had been on Twitter top for some time.

The hashtag #PussyCheated (#ПуссиПрокатили), connected with the

fact that the punk group was not put on the list of Sakharov’s Prize for

Freedom of Thought laureates, was also popular.

Besides, such hashtags, as #Kurban (on the days of the Muslim

holiday) and #MinistryOfDefense, connected with 3 billion rubles fraud in the

Ministry of Defense.

Thus, both opposition-oriented bloggers and pro-Government account

owners, including so called “sentinels” were active on Twitter. Both Twitter

and LiveJournal bloggers shifted their attention from one topic to another

fast. In October, the life span of all the social and political topics did

not exceed several days.© Communication Group G3. WEB: http://www.g3-group.com E-mail: [email protected] Tel:+7 495 648-53-18

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