Russia is facing a spring of discontent – and Putin is responding the only way he knows how
Four years after the large-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia is facing a spring of discontent.
Digital disruptions continue touched the nerves of ordinary citizens in Russian cities and public pushback He emerges against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Security services keep protests under control as Russia recovers from wartime economic pain. The conflict in the Middle East also gave an unexpected impetus to Russia’s war effort through high oil prices.
However, Russia’s repressive state apparatus now appears to be shifting into high gear. In recent weeks, law enforcement authorities have launched a new round of high-profile political arrests and raids. In parallel, the Russian government is resurrecting the ghosts of the Soviet past.
The latest example: On Tuesday, officials from Russia’s Investigative Committee raided the offices of one of Russia’s largest publishers and detained staff following a year-long criminal investigation into what officials claimed was a case of “LGBTQ propaganda.”
Publisher Eksmo owns Popcorn Books, a publication that publishes young adult fiction.
The logo of Russia’s largest broadcaster Eksmo will appear atop the publishing house’s head office building in Moscow on April 21. -Igor Ivanko/AFP/Getty Images
One of the book’s titles seems to have been specifically studied: “Summer with a Pioneer Tie,” a 2021 bestseller about the story of a strange love between two young men at a Soviet summer camp.
Authorities detained several people associated with the publishing house last year; The Popcorn Books imprint was closed in January.
Putin’s Russia has long been hostile to Western ideas it regards as dangerous, as the Kremlin leader positions himself as a defender of traditional values.
in 2023 Supreme Court of Russia He declared what Russian authorities called the “international LGBTQ movement” an extremist organization, declaring that he could impose serious criminal sanctions on LGBTQ activism or, apparently in the case of Eksmo, the act of publishing it.
Russian state news agency TASS said Eksmo’s top executives were released on bail after questioning. However, the publishing sector is not the only place where the space for freedom of expression is decreasing in Russia.
Earlier this month, police raided the offices of independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, whose co-founder won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021.
Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti, citing the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said journalist Oleg Roldugin was detained for questioning in connection with a criminal case regarding the alleged illegal misuse of personal data. Roldugin denied the crime before the trial.
The cooling effect of the case is obvious.
Novaya Gazeta was forced to close its print publication after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 but continues to publish online; The raid further sidelines what remains of Russia’s free press.
It is already difficult to share independent news in Russia. The government is banning popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram and is trying to impose a state-controlled messaging app called MAX to be the population’s default portal for digital services. And the Novaya Gazeta raid took place on the same day that the Russian Supreme Court designated the famous human rights organization Memorial as “extremist”.
U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement that the designation “effectively criminalizes critical human rights work” in Russia.
As the attack on the press continues, authorities are also reviving old symbols of political repression. A few days ago, Russia’s FSB Academy, where Putin trained to become a KGB agent, was renamed in honor of Feliks Dzherzinsky, the fearsome founder of the Soviet secret police.
The toppling of Dzherzinsky’s statue in front of KGB headquarters in 1991 was one of the symbolic actions symbolizing the end of the Soviet Union. But authorities in Russia appear determined to embrace the country’s dark, totalitarian past.
The statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky was torn down after the failed coup attempt in Moscow, Soviet Union, on August 22, 1991. – Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images
The embassies of Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia lodged a protest with the Russian Foreign Ministry following the destruction of a memorial complex dedicated to victims of the Soviet secret police in the Siberian city of Tomsk, Reuters reported on Thursday. And earlier this month, Russia sparked outrage by installing a display that some commentators said desecrated the Katyn Memorial, the site of the mass execution of Polish prisoners of war by the Soviets in 1940.
But if the Russian government is resurrecting the ghosts of the Soviet past and making the lives of ordinary Russians much more troublesome, Putin himself is demonstrating public indifference.
Putin on Thursday broke his silence on the digital outages that hit the country’s capital in early March.
“I can’t help but point out what people encounter in big cities; it’s a rare situation, but unfortunately it does happen,” he said. “I’m talking about some internet issues and outages in major metropolitan areas.”
A man checks his mobile phone in Moscow, Russia, on March 17. – Ramil Sitdikov/Reuters
Putin said the unpopular internet blackouts, which hit e-commerce and left many applications and electronic services inaccessible, were “related to operational work to prevent terrorist attacks.” But he also seemed to suggest that the public’s need for information is limited.
“Pre-dissemination of public information can be detrimental to operational improvement because ultimately criminals hear and see everything,” he said, “And of course, if the information reaches them, they will adjust their criminal behavior and criminal plans.”
In other words, life during war means enduring some hardships. Russia’s security services’ widening and deepening crackdown on civilian life also shows little sign of abating.
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