Repression in Russia: Arrests and ill-treatment of Putin critics

“Down with the Tsar!” In Russia, anyone who dares to say out loud what others are thinking will immediately feel the consequences. On Sunday, police in Moscow arrested more than 60 people, mostly young people, at a rally followed by a demonstration. This is a considerable magnitude simply because political meetings in the capital are generally not even approved.

The Communist Party KPRF called for the event on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the violent end to a power struggle over Russia's future political course. On October 4, 1993, then Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued the order to use firearms against rebellious supporters of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet. According to official information, 158 people died, but in fact there may have been many more.

But the memorial event with around 2,000 participants got out of hand because the long-time party leader Gennady Zyuganov obviously did not have a tight enough grip on his base. At the rally, the well-known slogan “Down with the party of fraudsters and thieves” directed against the Kremlin party United Russia was heard from the times of major protests against unfair elections in 2011 and 2012.

The KPRF is part of the so-called system opposition, which is allowed to express moderate criticism of the situation, but which can always be relied on in parliamentary votes in the interests of the Russian power apparatus. The communists rarely allow themselves to slip up.

Overly stubborn cadres, such as the extremely popular Kremlin critic Nikolai Bondarenko from Saratov, are consequently removed from circulation. The Russian election commission canceled Bondarenko's candidacy for the September 20 Duma elections. This sparked outrage in the KPRF, which the demonstrators expressed through calls for solidarity with Bondarenko.

Their vocal support also went to left-wing activist Dmitry Morozov, who was arrested last Friday. He now faces a prison sentence of up to ten years for alleged drug possession. A few days earlier, the 27-year-old had managed to win a partial victory against the city administration in his hometown of Izhevsk. This had previously banned the approval of a rally for fair elections under a pretext.

A court ordered that an alternative venue had to be found. After United Russia's expected landslide election victory with 349 out of 450 Duma seats, law enforcement agencies are systematically retaliating against those who publicize their doubts about the legitimacy of the election results.

The Moscow political scientist Alexander Kynew was arrested on September 25th. He is currently in a detention hospital. His shin was broken during his arrest. Many media outlets rely on Kynew's in-depth expertise as an election analyst because he is one of the last of his kind to dare to expose himself in such a way.

Since February, Russian authorities have listed Kynew as a “foreign agent.” The fact that he did not leave Russia at the time in order to be able to continue his work earned him not only praise from Russian exiles, but also malice, according to the motto: The arrest was his own fault

Kynew, a sports enthusiast and keen on a healthy lifestyle, is accused of illegally producing, distributing and distributing narcotics on a large scale. This carries a sentence of ten to twenty years in prison.