From the Arab Spring to the uprising of the ‘likers’ in the context of cooperation between the Russian Federation and the European Union

Abstract

2011 started with the Arab Spring and ended with Putin’s fall said one user of Russian equivalent of Facebook – Vkontake.ru. Around 3,000 more or less serious election frauds identified in the course of the elections to Russian parliament, the Duma, on December 4, 2011 triggered a revolt. Russians did what their predecessors in the authoritarian Arab states, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, had done. After a heated discussion in the new media they took to the streets in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The blogosphere created Alexei Navalny, who called „United Russia” a party of crooks and thieves. The strongest movement of resistance against the Putin – Medvedev tandem involved young people, whose campaign was named the uprising of ‘likers’.