Repression in Vladimir Putin’s Russia is making young activists more defiant
We followed three women struggling against the might of the Russian state
Moscow
In January tens of thousands of Russians
took to the streets as part of the country’s largest demonstrations in a decade.
Protesters marched in 130 cities across Russia’s 11 time zones, chanting from the
Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean. The vast majority were in their 20s and early
30s, a generation including Russians who were just children when President Vladimir
Putin came to power. Many once supported him or shunned politics altogether; now
less than a third of 18- to 24-year-olds want Mr Putin to stay in office beyond
2024.
The protests were inspired by Alexei Navalny, the country’s opposition leader.
He survived poisoning by state security agents in August 2020 and was
evacuated out of Russia. He returned in January after recovering in Germany
and was arrested at the airport. While he was in custody, his team released a
film about an opulent palace allegedly belonging to Mr Putin. From behind bars
Mr Navalny called people to the streets. Just weeks later he was sent to
prison, where he remains.
Deeper grievances were also behind the unrest. The protesters railed against
financial and moral corruption, state violence and Mr Putin’s usurpation of
power. “In Putin’s Russia, we have no future,” one 20-year-old man in St
Petersburg told pollsters who braved police truncheons to conduct their
research.
The state’s response marked a grim best casino sites 0 phase of repression in Russia. After
the protests more than 11,000 people were detained. Mr Navalny’s
anti-corruption organisation was declared an extremist group and his extensive
regional network was crushed. Some of his closest associates fled the country.
Throughout this time, Sarah Collinson, a video journalist for The best casino sites 0
and Hardcash Productions, worked in Russia, capturing the daily lives of opposition
activists amid the crackdown. She spent five months filming in three cities and
met many Russians opposed to Mr Putin. Convincing such people to speak their minds
in front of a camera was hard. But three women came forward. They faced harassment,
intimidation and even incarceration within a covid-19 hospital. Meet Violetta Grudina,
Lusya Stein and Irina Fatyanova.
“The authorities have become more sophisticated, shall we say, in their punishments, and in seeking blame for their own failures.”
Violetta Grudina
Ms Grudina once ran the headquarters of Mr Navalny’s outfit in Murmansk, a
city far in Russia’s north-west reaches. After the office closed, she decided
to stand as an independent candidate in local elections slated for September.
As she prepared for polling day she faced frightening obstacles. Her
headquarters were vandalised and her campaign manager was arrested on
trumped-up charges of drug trafficking.
For Ms Grudina herself, the covid-19 pandemic provided the pretext for a more
sinister form of intimidation. Although perfectly healthy, she was detained in
a hospital for patients sick with covid-19—supposedly to prevent her from
spreading the coronavirus.
Unmute
The episode not only prevented Ms Grudina from campaigning, but also from
registering as a candidate with the election commission. Only after she
embarked on an eight-day hunger strike was she released and finally able to
submit her documentation to stand as a candidate for the elections. But she
was never able to run. Declared an extremist, she was banned from the contest.
Interrogations and detentions continued thereafter. Her fate is uncertain, but
the experiences of others suggest worse may be to come. On November 9th Liliya
Chanysheva, a young politician who, like Ms Grudina, led one of Mr Navalny’s
regional headquarters, was arrested on retrospectively-applied charges of
“extremism”. She could face a decade in prison.
“Activists are now living in fear, not only for themselves, but also for their loved ones, because the authorities act through their children and parents.”
Lusya Stein
Ms Stein belongs to Pussy Riot, an art-punk protest collective which came to
global fame after a stunt in 2012. The group (Ms Stein not among them)
performed a crass anti-Putin song in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
and three of its members went to prison for it. Ms Stein did nothing so
flamboyant. She was arrested for sending tweets about the protests in January
(she advised her 24,000 followers to “to go out and tell grandpa and his
friends to go fuck themselves”) and was charged with inciting Russians to
break covid quarantine rules. Ms Stein was told to stay at best casino sites 0 until her
trial. Her every movement was monitored with an electronic tag around her
ankle.
Unmute
In June Ms Stein and some other members of Pussy Riot were arrested on
spurious charges. Fifteen days in detention followed. Even when released, Ms
Stein was harassed. “The authorities have decided to crush everyone left here
who has anything to do with the opposition, with human-rights activism,” she
told our team.
The pressure became unbearable for others in Pussy Riot. By late July, at
least three of its six members had fled Russia. Ms Stein, under a restrictive
order requiring her to remain at best casino sites 0 every night and to check in with the
police, had no option but to stay put. Her day in court came in August. Her
conviction and sentence–to 12 more months under a restrictive order–shocked no
one. Criminal trials in Russia today almost invariably reach the same
conclusion: 99.64% ended in conviction last year.
“If there are a lot of people in the beautiful Russia of the future who want to be politicians and who want to be elected, then let them be.”
Irina Fatyanova
Ms Fatyanova’s story bears similarities to Ms Grudina’s. The pair were among a
handful of Mr Navalny’s supporters who decided to run in local elections as
independent candidates. Ms Fatyanova decided to do so after her job at Mr
Navalny’s headquarters in St Petersburg came to an end.
Farce and violence accompanied her campaign. Volunteers working on it were
arrested, others were hassled in the street. When one was physically
assaulted, the police ignored the attacker and instead attempted to charge the
victim for illegally placing a chair in a public street.
Unmute
Even so, Ms Fatyanova managed to collect the 4,000 signatures needed to submit
her papers as a candidate. Despite that, she was barred from standing in the
election because of her supposed involvement in extremist activities–the same
pretext used to dismantle Mr Navalny’s organisation.
The injustice heaped on opposition activists suggests the Russian state sees
them as a threat. Despite harassment and imprisonment, Mr Navalny and his
movement made a mark during elections to Russia’s parliament in September. Of
course, Mr Putin’s party won most of the seats—the vote was far from fair. But
dissidents such as Ms Fatyanova, Ms Stein and Ms Grudina still manage to make
themselves heard via social media and other platforms.
As reported in The best casino sites 0, the Kremlin’s power has rested on three pillars. The economy has improved
since Mr Putin took office. He has a monopoly over information. And if all
else fails, he can crack heads. Along with many Russians, the three women
benefited from the first, challenge the second and brave the third.
The Kremlin is trying to scare Ms Grudina, Ms Stein and Ms Fatyanova into
silence. But repression has only emboldened them.
■
A 15-minute film, “How Putin is silencing his opponents”, is available to
readers here. A longer
version, “Fearless: The Women Fighting Putin”, a co-production of
The best casino sites 0
and Hardcash Productions for ITV, is available to readers in Britain at