Striking truck drivers at Manas Circle, Dagestan. Image courtesy of the author. Dagestan is home to some 600 kilometres of highway, the most extensive of Russia’s North Caucasus. And since 27 March, when Russia’s Association of Hauliers started a countrywide non-stop strike against an electronic taxation system, Dagestan’s long-distance truck drivers have parked themselves in protest up and down the republic. They’re protesting against the so-called “Platon” system, which collects an additional tax to compensate for damage done by heavy goods vehicles to Russia’s roads. But the strikers’ demands also include the resignation of the Russian government.
More than 300 trucks are parked at the Manas Circle, 30km south of the republic’s capital Makhachkala. And they’re facing their fair share of challenges. National Guard troops have been deployed to contain the truckers, and a former public official called for them to be “cut up into pieces”, adding further fuel to a heated situation. After videos of the truckers went viral on Dagestan social media, regional authorities have started talking of attempts to “destabilise the situation” in the republic. And the organiser of Dagestan’s Truckers Union was recently arrested in Moscow and then released the same day.
I went to Manas to find out why the drivers are protesting, and what challenges they’re facing from the authorities.
