OTTAWA - Russian President Vladimir Putin has earned a public rebuke from the Canadian government for his "heavy-handed" crackdown on political dissent.
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay issued a statement Monday reminding the Russian government that as a member of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, it has a responsibility to safeguard democratic values.
The statement came after weekend protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg resulted in the arrests of hundreds of citizens, including political activist and former Russian chess master Garry Kasparov.
"We support the right to peaceful protest as an essential component of democratic freedoms in Russia and around the world," MacKay said.
"We understand that it is the Russian government's intention to protect democratic rights and that it has a responsibility to uphold the rule of law. However, we note our concern at what appears to have been a heavy-handed police response."
Reports from Russia said as many as 9,000 riot police, interior ministry soldiers and plain clothes police were on hand in Moscow for a demonstration Saturday by approximately 2,000 Russians.
A similarly modest gathering on Sunday in St. Petersburg resulted in another rash of arrests, and more allegations of police beatings of protesters.
Putin, a former KGB agent who has consolidated power and enjoys immense popular support since becoming president in March 2000, is accused of stifling democracy in the run up to December's parliamentary elections and Russia's presidential vote next year.
MacKay's statement said G8 leaders have a duty to set an international example by being tolerant of peaceful political dissent.
"As leaders of the democratic world, G8 countries have a particular responsibility to safegaurd democratic values, and this starts at home."
The statement marks a new tough line from the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper against the Russian president.
Last summer, during a bilateral meeting between Harper and Putin at the G8 summit in St. Petersburg, the prime minister made a point of praising Putin's political acumen.
"I've certainly been watching you from afar for a long time," Harper told Putin as the cameras rolled.
After listing a range of bilateral topics on the table, Harper said he hoped to also discuss "some important things, such as ice hockey, and you will explain to me how to maintain my popularity at high levels."
But Putin was already coming under considerable criticism, both at home abroad.
Andrei Illarionov, a former economic advisor to Putin, quit in the leadup to the Russian G8 summit and publicly stated his country was no longer free.
Before the St. Petersburg summit, Illarionov chastised Western leaders for tacitly approving Russia's "nationalization of private property, destruction of the rule of law, violation of human rights and liquidation of democracy."
Since then, a several more journalists and critics of the Russia government have died under mysterious circumstances or have been killed without their murderers being found.
Two international organizations, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, respectively claim 21 and 13 journalists have been murdered since Putin took power seven years ago. The Russian-based Centre for Journalism in Extreme Situations, meanwhile, lists five murdered reporters.
Transparency International rated Russia 121st in its global corruption perception index for 2006, behind countries such as Albania, Kazakhstan and Malawi.
