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A Sweeping Clampdown In Russia Has Putin Critics Warning Of New Repressions
I wonder if Russians simply feel powerless, or they generally just don't care anymore?
In all likelihood, it is probably a combination of the two.
MOSCOW -- In Russia's capital, calls for protest by anti-government activists have capped off a week of raids, arrests, and prosecutions that appear to confirm fears that the political landscape has changed in a way that makes opposition an even more costly enterprise. "What's happening now is different, because it's part of a formal state doctrine," Yulia Galyamina, an opposition politician who was targeted in one of the recent raids, told RFE/RL. "The regime is now officially positioning itself as a dictatorship." Events unfolded in rapid succession. On July 6, journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva was convicted in Pskov of justifying terrorism, after more than a dozen fellow reporters were detained for picketing in her support. The following morning, members of Russia's security services bundled former military reporter Ivan Safronov into a car in central Moscow and arrested him on treason charges that carry a maximum 20-year sentence. Another 27 people, many of them Safronov's former colleagues, were detained for picketing in his defense. On July 8, authorities stormed the apartment of opposition activist Pyotr Verzilov and moved forward with a criminal case against him for allegedly failing to declare Canadian citizenship. And on July 9, the homes of at least five other opposition activists were raided in Moscow.
One thing connected them: All had campaigned against Putin's constitutional amendments, as part of a small but dogged drive to scupper the plan to extend his rule. For some, it was an echo of another sweeping clampdown in Russia's capital last summer, when a series of protests against the conduct of local elections prompted a tough reaction from authorities and raids on the homes of opposition activists. But others suggested things are different this time. The reaction on social-media channels popular among the opposition has been loud and defiant. But on the streets -- where law enforcement actively polices public spaces and is quick to hustle away solo picketers, let alone rowdy crowds -- it has been muted. Earlier this month, opposition activists petitioned the Moscow government for permission to hold a protest on July 15 against Putin's constitutional overhaul. But they were rebuffed on the grounds that certain anti-coronavirus lockdown measures continue, and large gatherings are still banned. Galyamina, who sits on a Moscow district council, said this was merely an excuse. "Putin's term limits have been reset," she wrote in a Facebook post on July 10.
I wonder if Russians simply feel powerless, or they generally just don't care anymore?
In all likelihood, it is probably a combination of the two.