Jasmine revolution in russia

The Jasmine Revolution began as a protest in Tunisia against corruption, poverty, and political repression, forcing the President Ben Ali to step down in January 2011. It inspired similar proteststhroughout the Middle East and North Africa. In the weeks following the uprising in Tunisia, countries including Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, Yemen, Iran, Bahrain, Syria, and Libya experienced significantmass demonstrations demanding political change.

In the last couple of weeks after the beginning of the events in North Africa and the Middle East, these events have been one of the main topics fordiscussion in the Russian expert community, thinking whether the events will echo in Russia and what scenario would they follow - Tunisian, Egyptian or Libyan. “All that is happening there will have adirect impact on our situation ... This is a large complex problem which requires serious effort over a very long time.” These are the words of the president of Russia Dmitry Medvedev. The Russiangovernment’s public reaction to these revolutions has been similar to China’s, which has watched with growing concern as the regimes in Tunisia and Egypt have been felled by people power in the space of alittle over a month. The authorities of Russia are convinced that the repetition of such events in Russia is impossible. The president stated: "in some cases it can be the case of disintegration ofthe large populous states [..] into small pieces. Such a scenario was prepared for us, and now they will try to implement it even harder. In any case, this scenario will not work". Some studies statedthat the probability of a revolution in Russia is not that great. Russia is on the 49th place in the list of the 85 states with a revolutionary index of 58.0. Russia’s involvement in thestrife-affected nations is limited. Moscow can thus wait to choose sides when it will be clear who the winners will be, whether liberal democrats or radical Islamists.

Recently, Russia vetoed a...