Kremlin chemicals induced storm to rain on anti-Putin parade, says MP

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/14/russia-chemicals-rain-anti-putin-parade

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A row has erupted in Moscow after a member of parliament accused the Kremlin of using chemicals to induce the torrential downpours that soaked protesters at an anti-Putin demonstration this week.

Rain on Tuesday drenched tens of thousands of people as they gathered for the biggest opposition event since Vladimir Putin's inauguration as president last month. A thunderstorm in the afternoon caused protesters to disperse more than an hour before the rally's scheduled end.

The weather may have been manipulated by the authorities seeking to disrupt the protest, the opposition leader and Duma deputy, Ilya Ponomaryov, wrote on his blog. "An anomalously high content of silver iodide" was found in rainwater collected during the day and analysed by chemists, he said.

Experts countered there was little evidence to suggest authorities could induce rain at specific places and times.

Thundery showers were forecast well in advance, pointed out the deputy director of Russia's Hydrometeorological Centre, Dmitry Kityov. While he said it was theoretically possible to artificially induce rainfall, he said "this sort of thing has never been seen before".

Officials dismissed the charges and said they had actually been seeking to prevent rainfall on Tuesday, which was also Russia Day, a national holiday.

Eight military aircraft had been deployed to scatter 1.5 tonnes of reagent to guarantee good weather, Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Deryabin told RIA-Novosti state news agency.

There had been wry jokes among damp protesters that the Kremlin was behind the inclement weather during the demonstration in central Moscow, which was attended by more than 20,000 people.

"It looks like yesterday's joke about Putin and the rain has turned out to not entirely be a joke," wrote Ponomaryov, who added that he was seeking a way to conclusively prove his suspicions.

Russia regularly seeds the skies over Moscow on national holidays, a tradition from Soviet times. Chemicals are dropped from planes into approaching rainclouds, causing them to disperse.

A former Moscow mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, even proposed extending the practice to the winter months to reduce heavy snowfall.