Issue and Opposition: Putin became acting president after Yeltsin’s resignation in 1999. Within the next few months, he became the president. Due to constitutional constraints on the number of consecutive terms a president can be reelected, Putin assumed power as the prime minister of Russia under President Dmitry Medvedev from 2008 to 2012. After an allegedly rigged election in 2012, Putin came back as president. Putin’s rule ever since has seen the suppression of dissent and opposition besides other excesses. In 2012, led by Golos, a group of protesters and activists participated in a dilemma action against Vladimir Putin and his government.
Dilemma Action: Residents of Barnaul, a Siberian town, organized a unique demonstration. Since under Putin, Article 31 of the Russian Federation Constitution banned public gatherings without official permission (and permission was denied to the protesters time and again), the protesters navigated around the law by putting the posters and placards in the hands of toys. It was a sight to behold. According to news and social media reports, Lego men, plush toys, toy cars, and plastic soldiers stood in lines by the roadside in the snow with signs and banners that had messages such as ‘A thief should sit in jail, not in the Kremlin’. The police officers were seen jotting down notes and details of the toy protesters, making for some fun and amusement among the city residents.
Outcome: The dilemma action drew a lot of international attention. More so, when the Russian prosecutors ruled that in the future, all such toy protests would be banned since the constitution did not allow for toys to hold public meetings, mass gatherings, or rallies. The ruling further emphasized that the toys had committed an illegal act by demonstrating since many of them were produced outside Russia, giving them a foreign status. As imported toys, they could not claim citizenship status. Moreover, the ruling pointed out (in all seriousness) that procedurally toys were not humans and hence, were not eligible to demonstrate in public places.