The Russian social authorities are taking custody of the daughter of a single father because the girl had drawn an anti-war poster, the news site Meduza reported at the end of February.
Living in Tula, south of Moscow waiting for a father (you will switch to another service)also criminal charges.
The case of the single father is an example of how serious consequences even small anti-war actions can have in Russia, which is waging a war of aggression.
Citizens’ opportunities to influence are so limited that individual anti-war or anti-regime activities require courage in Russia, says a researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute Margarita Zavadskaya.
– Of course, the administration wants to send a signal that this kind of thing will not be tolerated, says Zavadskaja.
According to him, the actions of the administration lead to the fact that people do not dare to act anymore, when those closest to them may be subjected to pressure and threats.
Zavadskaja tells about the estimate, according to which only about 25 percent of Russians support the opposition.
– For example, Navalny’s organization is banned as an extremist organization. People are forced to hide their true position for fear of sanctions, says Zavadskaja.
An opposition politician sitting in prison To Alexei Navalny the anti-corruption organization was banned in Russia in 2021 as an “extremist” organization. For example, an activist Lilia Chanysheva was sentenced for 10 years (you switch to another service)imprisonment for his connections to the organization.
Observing and defending Russian human rights of the OVD-info organization (you switch to another service) according to the numbers, last year was bad.
After the start of the war of aggression, the Russian regime began handing out punishments for criticizing the military, spreading war-related information, and treason.
The line of the law is moving
Human rights activist Dmitri Zair-Bekin according to currently in Russia, people have to try to interpret where the line in the law is, which cannot be crossed.
– This is probably hard to imagine for those who live in a rule of law. But the reality in Russia is that today the laws play a secondary role, and the primary role is played by the boundaries related to the rules of the game, says Zair-Bekin.
His organization “First Department” (Pervyi Otdel (you switch to another service)) tries to help define where informal boundaries go, i.e. what is permissible expression of opinion.
The organization helps to defend in court Russians who, for example, have been charged with acting against the state during the war. In particular, they help people accused of espionage and treason. One is Saveli Frolovin case. Frolov is accused (you go to another service) of treason and plans to fight on the side of the Ukrainians.
– How is it possible to accuse of defecting to the side of the enemy, when the Russian state media and authorities consider the Legion of Freedom group in question inactive and possibly unreal, says Zair-Bek.
In addition to fines and sentences, other methods are used to intimidate citizens. These include, for example, talking at workplaces and accessing employees’ social media.
According to researcher Margarita Zavadskaja, the workplaces of companies linked to the administration are the strictest, international IT companies have more freedom. Control also extends to universities.
– Most universities are under state administration, and in the last year even the most liberal universities have tightened monitoring of students, says Zavadskaja.
In Russia, hundreds of people have been sentenced for opposing the war. However, Russia has more than 143 million people, why isn’t there more opposition?
According to the researcher, you shouldn’t just look at the numbers. What is decisive is not how many thousands of judgments have been passed, but the fact that opponents of the war exist at all.
– We don’t see all the people because information doesn’t flow freely anymore, says Zavadskaja.
– Still, people’s lives and human dignity matter, even if there is only a percentage who dare to speak, says Zavadskaja.
The fight is disproportionate, because for the last 15 years, the Russian regime has done everything it can to prevent the opposition from working.
In the regions of Russia, there were many protests in big cities in 2011–12, but now the control reaches there as well.
Zair-Bek is also of the opinion that the real opinion of the Russians about the war cannot be obtained, because it is only told to close people in conversations held in the kitchen.
Resistance is helping or sharing information
According to the researcher, helping Ukrainians in Russia seems to be one way to protest the Russian president Vladimir Putin politics.
– These people exist, they cannot have organized activities, because they would be monitored, says Zavadskaja.
Volunteers have helped Ukrainians who were sent to Russia through the filtering camps to leave the country for Estonia or Finland.
In Russia, real activism can now be telling relatives watching the state television channels about the real situation in the war in Ukraine or mailing leaflets about the war, says Zair-Bek.
– If you have to do something, do it so that you can look future generations in the eye, says Zair-Bek.
According to the researcher, the opposition has lost one major asset, the influential feminist movement in Russia, which has well-coordinated anti-government and anti-war activities.
– For some reason, the leading figures of the opposition abroad have not considered the feminist movement as a real counterforce, says Zavadskaja.
According to him, the reason may be the differences between generations. The feminist movement and the opposition movements work side by side and have different audiences without joining forces.
According to OVD-info’s statistics, last year the largest group of defendants who opposed the war most often during the war year were 25-35 years old. 46 percent of those arrested for anti-war activities were women.
According to Zair-Bek, there is no point in waiting for large demonstrations, as the administration can stop them in an instant. He fears that the situation will get worse this year.
– The situation in Russia’s domestic politics is now dependent on the situation in Ukraine. Therefore, the success of the Ukrainian army determines how quickly Russia becomes a free state, says Zair-Bek.
You can discuss the topic on Tuesday 14.3. until 11 p.m.