VM: -Is this your first time in Russia?

EB: -I came to Russia both as a tourist and a journalist. I plan to travel around to see some other Russian cities. But also, since Western media has made considerable hype about the protests in Moscow, I decided to observe for myself whether or not there was “police brutality”. I was also curious about the nature of the protests themselves.

[I’m also planning on going to Donbass for 2 to 3 weeks.]

In Donbass, I plan to interview civilians about what they’ve experienced under Ukrainian shelling, and also to interview journalists who have been covering this.

I also have an interview I’ll conduct in Moscow, but prefer to wait until I’ve done so before speaking about it.

VM: – You’ve said that the protesters in Moscow turned out to be the most apathetic of those whom you have seen, and that they got more energetic only when the singers and the bands began performing. Maybe it’s because most people did come not for the action, but just to see their favourite performers?

EB: – That’s the impression I got. My point about apathy was this: if one truly believes in the cause he/she is advocating for, that passion shows during protests. What I observed was people who periodically chanted for a brief period, and then just stood there. In all the protests I’ve participated in, I’ve never seen such lackluster.

It really seemed like many of those who came out on Saturday–many of whom were youths–might have had other reasons for attending. One obvious one was the presence of the bands/singers. I’ve also heard allegations that protesters are paid to attend–but I can’t personally verify those allegations.

VM: -You noted that the protesters on Sakharov avenue seemed to be waiting for the team from the organizers to shout certain slogans. Did you have any feeling that the organizers themselves also received instructions from the West? Don’t you think that we are talking about a foreign intervention into the Russian politics, as it was in Ukraine, Egypt, Syria, Venezuela and other countries where there were staged protests?

EB: – I think that is entirely possible. I don’t discount that people in Russia, or Venezuela, or Syria, have genuine political grievances and want certain changes, of course they do. But if we look at the case of Syria, for example, it is now known that from the very beginning there were armed protesters who attacked security forces, and committed massacres against security forces and civilians. This was at a time when most Western and Gulf media maintained the lie that the protests were peaceful [Please see on this.]