Putin goes after his own war cheerleaders
Roman Alekhin ran a fervently pro-war Telegram channel, advised a Russian governor, and received military awards for fighting in Ukraine.
He was a poster child for so-called Z-bloggers, social media war correspondents unflinchingly loyal to the ideology behind them. Vladimir PutinInvasion of Ukraine.
The Russian state later declared him a “foreign agent”.
The spectacle of Mr. Alekhin’s dramatic rise and fall spread fear among the online community, which has been allowed to criticize and criticize the way the war is being conducted for almost four years.
Mr Alekhin’s fall from grace is a sign that even pro-war critics are not safe from the Russian regime – X
While thousands of anti-war activists were jailed, a growing movement of ultranationalist military bloggers (or ‘milbloggers’) appeared to be rewarded with money, status and influence.
However, Russia has been warning observers for a long time: Kremlin’s tolerance Some of these would run out; then it could be now.
Keir Giles, senior Russia analyst at Chatham House, was surprised this hadn’t happened sooner. “This is the kind of dissent that would have resulted in retaliation long ago if it had been directed at the political system,” he said.
The Z-blogosphere “is seen by some as a safety valve through which critics can exit without challenging general government policy”, Mr Giles told The Telegraph. “That street is now closed.”
Mr. Alekhin, who is accused of misusing funds he raised for Russian troops after showing off a new sports car and an expensive watch on social media, is not the first mileblogger to run afoul of the state he fiercely defends, as the regime’s repressive machinery begins to eat him up.
Sergey Markov, a leading pro-Kremlin expert, was listed as a “foreign agent” in August; it was a label once used for Russia’s enemies, with Stalin-era connotations, but increasingly used at will by the state apparatus to silence any criticism.
Experts believe Mr Markov was being punished for his open support for Azerbaijan during the collapse of Baku’s relations with Moscow. This marked a major fall for Putin from the once-trusted megaphone.
Once Putin’s trusted propagandist Sergei Markov listed as ‘foreign agent’ – Anadolu/Getty Images
Insisting that he was loyal to the Motherland, Markov stated that this was a deliberate attack organized by “corrupt officials” and “enemies of Russia”.
At the end of October, Tatyana Montyan, a former Ukrainian lawyer and pro-war Russian propagandist, found herself added to Russia’s list of “terrorists and extremists” due to allegations of misuse of money raised for the front.
Last week, Oksana Kobeleva, founder of a prominent pro-war Telegram channel, was detained by anti-extremist police, accused of discrediting the army, after criticizing Chechen Akhmat special forces commander Apti Alaudinov.
All four deny wrongdoing. While each case seems triggered by different reasons, taken together they signal a shift from purging dissenting voices to turning to traditional supporters who share inconvenient truths.
“Once this pressure mechanism starts working, it can’t stop,” he said Vladimir Kara-MurzaBritish-Russian opposition activist sentenced to 25 years in a labor camp for criticizing the war. He was released in 2024 through a prisoner exchange.
Stalinist history repeats itself
“Look at the Soviet Union under Stalin, first they went after their political enemies, then the system started destroying its own people,” he told The Telegraph.
Z-bloggers, who often have close ties to the military, are inherently both useful and dangerous. Russian state.
They lobby for support for the war effort and provide a vital cash flow by mobilizing public donations to the front. But they also have a significant influence on public opinion and offer an alternative source of information about the war to the Kremlin’s official channels.
To take Operation Spider WebOne of Ukraine’s most daring missions in the war was to use drones smuggled onto trucks to strike air bases deep inside Russia. According to the Kremlin-controlled media circle, the attack in June was mostly repelled and the damage was minimal.
Meanwhile, on social media, Russian milbloggers were outraged by the attack, posting images of the destroyed jets and accusing the Russian leadership of failing to protect some of its most valuable assets.
Internecine competition in the online community
According to Dr Martin Laryš, a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, the online community can be divided into two distinct groups: staunch old propagandists and the growing grassroots movement of Z-bloggers.
He said the two rival camps were increasingly hostile to each other, trying to discredit each other and competing over business interests.
The de facto leader of the loyalists who have not deviated from the Kremlin narrative is Vladimir Solovyov, a powerful presenter on Russian state television who has in the past referred to the critical group as “enemies” of the state who should be jailed for their criticism of the war effort.
Dr. Loyalists protect commanders and generals, Laryš said, while the more critical wing protects soldiers fighting at the front, often railing against inadequate training and wasteful “meat wave” attacks.
He said the growing intolerance of both the Kremlin and its loyalists “signals that the red lines are shifting and the critical community’s room for maneuver is narrowing.” “This is a reflection of the deteriorating situation on the front line, including increasing desertion rates.”
Putin shows increasing intolerance for loyalists who dare question the high command – Contributor/Getty Images
The scope of the foreign agencies law continues to be expanded. Tatiana Stanovaya, senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said that this method, which was originally intended to be used against organizations acting against state interests, “now nothing prevents it from being used against anyone.”
It leads to rapid repercussions and social stigma, including being banned from working in the public sector, being banned from organizing events or fundraising, and all of one’s posts, including online content, must be labeled as “foreign agent” material.
He suggested that another indicator of the regime’s increasing pressure is its increasing control over social media networks.
Having already blocked Facebook, Instagram and X, Russian authorities have increasingly put pressure on WhatsApp and Telegram, narrowing access to online content while supporting state-controlled platforms.
The internet space is now heavily censored, monitored and weaponized for state control; The victims are ordinary Russians.
“This is the logic of a new oppressive, totalitarian system,” Mr. Kara-Murza said, arguing that this should send a message to all Putin’s supporters.
“When they’re done with all of us [the political opposition]They will start coming after you because once this mechanism of repression starts working, it cannot stop until the dictatorship crumbles and falls.”
