Photo: WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images
Russian support for PresidentVladimir Putinand theinvasion of Ukraineremains strong more than four months after combatbegan in late February. Now, authorities in Russia are tightening their grip, implementing new measures designed to deter or eliminatecritics of the warthat’s killed thousands on both sides and displaced millions of Ukrainians.
Russian lawmakers have recently approved new, Kremilin-backed proposals on the definition of treason, to further restrict “foreign agents” (a term that’s been applied to independent journalists) and to control information considered useful to “unfriendly countries,“Bloomberg reports.
Wartime rules on public protest andcensorshipare also tightening, according to the news organization.
The New York Timesreportsthat a flurry of arrests across Russia signals a new crackdown on some unlikely figures after the loudest dissenting voices have already been silenced.
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Dmitri Kolker, a physicist who was seeking treatment for cancer at a Siberian hospital, was arrested and accused of treason. He died in custody after being transferred to a Moscow jail, according to theTimes.
Another academic, economist Vladimir Mau, was placed on house arrest after being accused of fraud, according to Bloomberg, which notes his Kremlin connections as an advisor to Putin and head of a top state-run university.
Mau was one of 300 senior academic officials who signed a letter in March in support of the invasion of Ukraine, theTimesreports, though that was not sufficient to keep him out of trouble.
Russian President Vladimir Putin.Sergei Guneyev/TASS/Getty
“A big enemy of the government and the stability of the government are people who carry knowledge,” Leonid Gozman, an outspoken critic of Putin who worked with Mau, told theTimes. “Truth is an enemy here.”
Ekaterina Schulmann, a political scientist who taught at the university that Mau led, also spoke to theTimesabout his arrest. “Here, ambiguous loyalty may not be permitted,” she said.
“The Russian people will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and simply spit them out like a fly that accidentally flew into their mouths,“Putin said in March, theTimesreported, signaling his intentions to control public opinion within Russia’s borders. “I am convinced that such a natural and necessary self-purification of society will only strengthen our country, our solidarity, cohesion and readiness to respond to any challenges.”
The tactics, which also include blocking social media platforms and shuttering independent as well as foreign news outlets, appear to be working.
According to Bloomberg, polls show that support for Putin has surged since the February launch of the invasion, landing above 80 percent.
Police officers detain a man holding a placard reading “No to war” during a protest against Russian military action in Ukraine, in Manezhnaya Square in central Moscow on March 13.AFP via Getty
Russia’sattack on Ukrainecontinues after their forces launched a large-scale invasion on Feb. 24 — the first major land conflict in Europe in decades.
Nearly 9 million have fled the country as refugees — and half are children,according to the United Nations. Millions more have been displaced inside Ukraine.
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With NATO forces amassed in the region, various countries have offered aid or military support to the resistance. Ukraine’s PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyyhas called for peace talks — so far unsuccessfully — while urging his country to fight back.
Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the best security interests of his country. Zelenskyy vowed not to bend.
“Nobody is going to break us, we’re strong, we’re Ukrainians,“he told the European Unionin a speech in the early days of the fighting, adding, “Life will win over death. And light will win over darkness.”
source: people.com
