Dissenting opinions are not tolerated in Vladimir PutinIt’s Russia.
For years, critics of the Kremlin have faced a wide range of laws that could be used against them. Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, their arsenal of measures has only grown.
The laws target basic rights such as freedom of speech and assembly, even though these 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 ‘false information’
The law most often used against critics of the war in Ukraine is spreading “deliberately false information” about the Russian military.
It was rushed through parliament shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was “urgently needed due to the unprecedented information war being waged against our country.”
According to leading Russian human rights organization OVD-Info, more than 300 people have now been charged or convicted under this law.
Although the law addresses “false” information, it is being used against people who report crimes that are well documented but denied by Russia.
Ilya Jashin is one of the most prominent critics of the war to be convicted under the law. The former head of a Moscow district council was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for a YouTube livestream in which he called for an investigation into the killing of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
In April 2023, a prominent opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison for treason and spreading “false information” about the Russian military.
His case was based in part on a speech in which he accused Russian forces in Ukraine of committing war crimes by using cluster bombs in residential areas and bombing maternity hospitals and schools.
The law has also been applied to Russians with a much smaller public profile.
Russian speaking tutor Raisa Boldova61, was given a one-year suspended community service sentence for posting critical comments about attacks on civilians in Ukraine, including the bombing of the maternity hospital in Mariupol.
Following the horrifying Soviet practice of locking up dissidents in psychiatric hospitals, the court also ordered her to submit to a mandatory psychiatric evaluation.
‘Discrediting’ the Russian military
Another recent law punishes “discrediting” the Russian military and has been applied to a wide range of actions interpreted as support for Ukraine or criticism of the war.
These include:
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Wearing clothes in the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag
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Writing anti-war slogans on cakes, just like the pastry chef Anastasia Chernysheva
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Dyeing your hair blue and yellow or listening to Ukrainian music
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Hanging anti-war posters with messages ranging from “No War” to eight stars (the number of Russian letters that spell “No War”) or even just a blank sheet of paper.
A village priest in the Kostroma region was fined for discrediting the Russian armed forces. He prayed for peace and cited the sixth commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.”
Targeting ‘foreign agents’
Russia’s “foreign agents” law allows restrictions to be imposed on critics without them being prosecuted.
Individuals or organisations that have criticised or scrutinised government policy are being targeted if they are found to have received money from abroad – even from a family member – or if they are simply under ‘foreign influence’.
This label should be placed on all public communications. This practice is designed to undermine trust in communications and is similar to the Soviet practice of labeling dissidents as “enemies of the people.”
Russian “foreign agents” include election monitor Golos, leading pollster Levada Centre, human rights group OVD-Info, a movement of wives of mobilized soldiers called The Way Home, and numerous independent news websites and journalists, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov.
Books written by so-called foreign agents are increasingly disappearing from stores and libraries.
‘Undesirable organizations’ and ‘extremists’
Being labeled a “foreign agent” can make life difficult, but being declared an “undesirable” means an outright ban.
In this way, a variety of organizations have been banned from Russia, from the NGO Greenpeace to the London-based think tank Chatham House, as well as a number of major Russian media outlets.
Deceased opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s The Anti-Corruption Foundation was disbanded after being declared an “extremist” – another label used to effectively erase individuals and organizations from public life.
Navalny himself was given a lengthy prison sentence and died in prison in February 2024. His widow says he was murdered by President Putin. Several of Navalny’s lawyers were arrested on charges of extremism.
Rallies and protests
In Russia, anyone who wants to hold a demonstration needs permission from the authorities. If the demonstration is critical of the government, this is practically impossible.
“One-man pickets” are allowed, but are regularly stopped – apparently due to Covid measures.
One man was fined for wearing blue and yellow shoes, which was seen as a violation of laws regulating political demonstrations. And a journalist from the Vologda region, Antonida Smolinawas visited by police after someone complained about photos she had posted online of herself posing in a yellow coat against a blue sky.
Other actions banned in Russia include “disrespect” for authorities and calls to impose sanctions on the country.
Laws as an instrument to ‘legitimize repression’
According to Natalia Prilutskaya of Amnesty International, the Kremlin uses laws to “legitimise repression”, partly by exploiting the vague wording of some Russian laws.
“This vagueness allows law enforcement agencies to in principle classify any activity as prohibited, or at least makes it easier,” Ms Prilutskaya told the BBC.
Dmitrii Anisimov, spokesman for the Russian human rights organization OVD-Info, says that laws are of particular importance to the Kremlin because of the way Russia’s security apparatus functions.
“The Russian security community is quite bureaucratic and needs legal standards for their actions,” he said. The legislation used by the security services is “intentionally designed in a way that makes their application easy and widespread,” he added.
According to Ms. Prilutskaya, all this contributes to a general climate of repression, for which she blames President Vladimir Putin.
“The ambitions of one person have brought Russia to the brink of a very deep abyss,” she said.
