Is the crisis with Russia deepening? The Russian police today (Monday) arrested Leonid Guzman, a Jewish opposition politician who opposes Putin. This, following a criminal investigation opened against Guzman due to his “failure to inform the authorities quickly enough about his Israeli citizenship”, his lawyer said. “He was arrested by the subway police officers at the entrance to the subway station,” wrote lawyer Mikhail Biryukov on Facebook.
Not only the Jewish Agency: Russia is expanding its activities against Jewish organizations
The Russian Foreign Ministry claims: “The agency issue is inflated, there is no crisis in relations”
“The Jewish Agency is just an excuse, there is something deeper here”
Guzmán was the last leader of the small Union of Right Forces party, which included free-market reformers such as Anatoly Chubais, who left Russia, and Boris Nematsov, who was shot dead in 2015 near the Kremlin.
Guzmán has publicly claimed that President Vladimir Putin did more damage in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine than any other leader since Josef Stalin, and that Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union died with the war. A few days ago from Moscow, Guzman even told the “New York Times” that he too fears that he might be arrested. “There is a feeling that every day could be the last day,” said Guzman, who continues to speak out against Putin and against the war.
At least ten dead and hundreds injured in a Russian missile attack on a shopping center in Ukraine (Photo: Reuters)
Guzman was officially defined in Russia last month as a “foreign agent” – a person who receives money from foreigners or is under the control of foreigners. He was placed on a federal most-wanted list, the Interior Department said.
In his last public post on Telegram, Guzman wrote: “For those who want and can protest – be careful, remember that what was almost free yesterday – a small fine – can cost you your freedom today. Only if you understand what you will have to pay – go ahead, and may God help you. Everything else – Don’t give up.”
This arrest and other arrests in Russia in recent days signal the Kremlin’s intention to further tighten the noose around the citizens. This seems to be the realization of Putin’s statement from the first weeks of the war in Ukraine, according to which Russia must purge itself of pro-Western “scum and traitors”.