The laws target basic rights such as freedom of speech and assembly, even though they are enshrined in the Russian constitution.
The repressive nature of the punishments, often disproportionate to the crime, is reminiscent of the methods of the old Soviet Union.
Spreading “deliberate disinformation”.
The law most widely used against critics of the war in Ukraine is criminal liability for spreading “deliberate disinformation” about the Russian military.
It was rushed through parliament shortly after the 2022 February 24 Russia invaded Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was “urgently needed because of the absolutely unprecedented information war being waged against our country.”
According to OVD-Info, a well-known Russian human rights group, more than 300 people have been charged or convicted under it since then.
Although the law refers to “disinformation,” the provision has been used against individuals who have pointed out well-documented crimes. Russia denies them.
Ilya Yashin is one of the most prominent war critics convicted under this law. The former head of the Moscow District Council received eight-and-a-half years in prison for broadcasting live on YouTube in which he called for an investigation into the killing of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.
in 2023 in April, prominent opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of treason and spreading “disinformation” about the Russian military.
His case was based in part on speech in which he accused Russian soldiers of committing war crimes in Ukraine, using cluster bombs on residential areas and bombing maternity hospitals and schools.
It is true that these activists were released in the latest and largest Russian-Western prisoner swap since the Cold War. Read more about it here.
The law was also applied to Russians, who are much less prominent in society.
Raisa Boldova, a 61-year-old Russian language teacher, was sentenced to one year of suspended community service for publishing critical comments about attacks on civilians in Ukraine, including the Mariupol maternity hospital bombing.
The court also ordered her to undergo a mandatory psychiatric examination, a reminder of the frightening Soviet practice of locking up dissidents in psychiatric hospitals.
“Discrediting” of the Russian military
Another recent law punishes “discrediting” the Russian military and applies to a variety of actions interpreted as support for Ukraine or criticism of the war.
Among them are:
Wearing clothes in the colors of the Ukrainian flag – blue and yellow.
Writing anti-war slogans on cakes, as pastry chef Anastasia Chernysheva did.
Dyeing your hair blue and yellow or listening to Ukrainian music.
Creation of anti-war posters with various inscriptions.
A village priest in the Kostroma region has been punished for “discrediting” the Russian armed forces after he prayed for peace and mentioned God’s sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.”
Search for “Foreign Agents”.
Under Russia’s “foreign agents” law, critics can face restrictions without proof of guilt.
Individuals or organizations that have criticized or monitored government policies can be prosecuted if they are believed to have received money from abroad, even from relatives, or are simply under “foreign influence”.
This label must be affixed to all public relations, a practice aimed at undermining trust in them and reminiscent of the Soviet practice of calling dissidents “enemies of the people”.
Among Russia’s “foreign agents” are the election monitoring service Golos, the well-known polling agency Levados Center, the rights advocacy group OVD-Info, the Way Home movement of wives of mobilized soldiers, and numerous independent news sites and journalists, including the Nobel Peace Prize prize winner Dmitry Muratov.
Books written by so-called “foreign agents” began to disappear from shops and libraries.
“Undesirable Organizations” and “Extremists”
The “foreign agent” label can make life difficult, but being declared “undesirable” means a complete ban.
Various organizations, from the non-governmental organization Greenpeace to the London-based think tank Chatham House, as well as many of Russia’s most important media outlets, have thus been banned from operating in Russia.
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation was disbanded after it was declared “extremist”, another label used to effectively erase individuals and organizations from public life.
A. Navalny himself was sentenced to a long prison term and died in prison in 2024. in February His widow claims that he was killed by President V. Putin. Several of A. Navalny’s lawyers were themselves arrested on charges of extremism.
Rallies and protests
In Russia, anyone who wants to hold a demonstration needs permission from the authorities. If the rally is directed against the government, this is practically impossible.
“One-person pickets” are allowed, but many are regularly called off, ostensibly due to COVID restrictions.
One man was fined for wearing blue and yellow shoes, considered a violation of laws governing political demonstrations. And Antonida Smolina, a journalist from the Vologda region, was visited by the police after someone complained about photos of her posing online in a yellow coat against a blue sky.
Other actions banned in Russia include disrespecting the government and calling for sanctions against the country.
Laws as a tool to “legitimize repression”
According to Amnesty International’s Natalya Prilutskaya, the Kremlin is using the law to “legitimize repression,” in part by exploiting the vague wording of some Russian laws.
“This uncertainty allows law enforcement structures to qualify basically any activity as a prohibited activity, or at least makes it easier to do so,” explained N. Prilutskaja.
Dmitry Anisimov, a spokesman for the Russian human rights group OVD-Info, said that the laws are particularly important to the Kremlin because of the activities of the Russian security apparatus.
“The Russian security community is quite bureaucratic and needs legal norms for its actions,” he said. – The legislation used by the security services was “deliberately designed to be simple and widespread,” he added.
Prilutskaya says it all adds up to a general atmosphere of repression, which she blames on President Vladimir Putin.
“One person’s ambitions have brought Russia to the edge of a really deep abyss,” she said.
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2024-08-27 11:30:34