Seliger, Tver region - Russian President Vladimir Putin has explained his statement against opposition activists using white ribbons as a symbol. I am not against them, but I do consider this a foreign political technology, he said.
“I was not saying that against the people wearing this symbol. I felt
sorry for the people who are using the technologies well-practiced
somewhere abroad. This is what I was talking about,” Putin said at the
Seliger 2012 youth forum.
He was responding to a question by a white ribbon-wearing attendee as
to why the president spoke “so interestingly” about opposition
activists.
“We had to deal with a whole host of various revolutions: the Orange
one, the Rose one in Kyrgyzstan and some other revolution,” Putin said.
After the December 2011 elections to the State Duma, thousands of
people who disagreed with the election results took to the streets of
Moscow and other large cities. Many of them were wearing white ribbons
as a symbol of a campaign for honest elections. Putin was asked his
opinion during a live Q&A session on Dec. 15, 2011. Putin said
that initially he perceived white ribbons worn by protestors on
Bolotnaya Square as an anti-AIDS symbol.
“Frankly, when I saw on the screen something that someone had on
their chest, I’ll tell you honestly, though it is indecent, but I
decided nevertheless that it was an anti-AIDS propaganda, that those
were – pardon me – contraceptives,” he said.
