A report from the conference of democratic forces of Russia in St. Petersburg By Grigory Pasko, journalist The weather in St. Petersburg on the morning of 5 April was glorious – a rare occurrence for this city. And already in the morning, access to St. Isaac’s Square was through police cordons. Since a blog is not officially considered a mass information media outlet in Russia, and I write for a blog, I had to show all the policemen my membership card in the journalistic organization «Reporters Without Borders» to prove I was a journalist. They let me onto the Square. It was teeming with joyful young people all waving blue flags inscribed «Samsung» or carrying red balloons inscribed «Coca-Cola». “What are you waiting here for?”, I asked. “They’re going to be carrying the Olympic flame of the Chinese Olympiad”, they jubilantly explained. “But why are you here? What have you got to do with it? What do Samsung and Coca-Cola have to do with it?”, I persisted. The young people fell silent, clearly at a loss – they hadn’t expected such a question. Someone finally shouted out: “For the heck of it!” The Olympic flame, brought to you by… (photo by Grigory Pasko)