Mikhail Kurbatov. Photo: Yulia Koroleva. All rights reserved.Russia’s truck drivers have been battling against a new road toll system for more than two years now — with varying degree of success. The independent Union of Truck Operators of Russia (OPR) has become the backbone of this protest, and was formed specifically in response to a new road tax introduced in 2015 and its electronic collection system. The union now has more than 500 members, with 7,000 supporters regularly donating money. In December, OPR was forced to register with the Ministry of Justice as a “foreign agent”. The truck drivers decided to respond with a ten-day national strike.
With kickoff fast approaching, Mikhail Kurbatov, a long-haul truck driver from Nizhny Novgorod and one of the union’s founders, told oDR about how law enforcement is trying to scare truckers off, why truck drivers aren’t ready to accept the regulations around road tax collection — and how they plan to ban to get rid of the Platon system entirely.
Why did long-haul truck drivers started to protest?
