The creativity of the Russian authorities to think about new repressive measures is incontestable. Proscribe, thus, in general, fine by googlear “” And block WhatsApp calls in order to force their citizens to use their software Espía, the Max messaging service, are some of its latest initiatives. The new Kremlin laws that will come into force on September 1 have been drafted vaguely to be arbitrarily used by their security forces. After sweeping the opposition, his turn has also reached the Russian elite, and the Putinism It is based between laws and bars. The Government has also announced the construction of more preventive detention centers, its particular Sizo archipelago, as these prisons are known in Russia.
The author of Gulag archipelagoHe blessed Putin’s presidency before his death in 2008. 17 years later, and with the president of the country, his prime minister, Mijaíl Mishustin, has announced Russia’s final departure from the European Convention for the prevention of torture. Thanks to this treaty, Moscow allowed the access of an independent commission to its prisons and psychiatric institutions until the beginning of the. “He did not achieve a systemic improvement, but at least generated a debate on the conditions in Russian prisons,” says Dmitri Animo, spokesman for OVD-INFO, an independent organization that monitors political repression in the country.
The resignation of the agreement has been known at the same time that Moscow has announced the construction of 11 new preventive detention centers – known as Sizo – and has tripled 105,000 to 359,000 million rubles – 1,100 to 3,800 million euros – its budget for prisons for the next decade.
The icing is that Putin has returned to the successor of the KGB, the Federal Security Service (FSB), the privilege of possessing its own detention centers without any external supervision. A power that Russian espionage lost in the 1990s, when the country opened to Europe and had to comply with certain minimum human rights requirements, such as suspending the death penalty and transferring the management of these prisons to independent agencies.
“FSB control was removed so that researchers could not press the defendants in the cells,” says Animo. “It is likely that political prisoners will end up in those prisons. We still do not know how they will operate, but it will become more difficult to enter human rights defenders and lawyers, and there will be more cases of torture,” warns the spokesman for OVD-INFO.
One of the best known detention centers is that of Lefortovo, in Moscow, having passed through their cells many figures of the Russian opposition. “The FSB already controlled it. OVD-INFO estimates that there are 1,586 political prisoners in Russia. The UN Rapporteur for Human Rights in Russia raised this figure above 2,000 in February this year.
The walls listen
On September 1, a new crime will enter into force under the title “Find manifestly extremist material and access it.” In principle, the law only provides for fines of up to 5,000 rubles – 53 euros – but the experience shows that a law that begins being suavelike that of foreign agents, it can end up being a relentless weapon in the hands of the Kremlin.
In Russia there are about 5,500 articles and organizations declared extremists by the Government, from the “” [una abstracción que en la práctica supone perseguir todo lo relacionado con estas personas] Ao Greenpeace. In fact, the most popular social networks, Instagram and Facebook are also considered extremist. One of the promoters of the law, Senator Artiom Sheikin has promised that accessing these platforms through a VPN will not be punished. Promise of word of a regime that today imprisons its citizens for published memes a decade ago.
“There are two interpretations of this law,” says Annostov. “One would be limited to these articles in particular, but the other extends to the search for any content that promotes or justifies extremist activity. The vagueness of their writing causes security forces to use this prohibition at will,” he adds.
For OVD-INFO spokesman, this law is “a perfect example of repressive legislation in Russia.” “It can be used against any person for political purposes, although it does not apply massively. It is used in specific cases with severity to intimidate others,” he explains.
Another totalitarian derivative of this law is that security forces have access to the searches of their citizens thanks to telecommunications operators and Russian service platforms. This week it has been known that the Russian Google, Yandex, has been convicted of refusing to give FSB access to the domestic intelligent speakers of a user.
Even so, the Russian authorities constantly work on improving the espionage of their citizens. Since this summer they have blocked whatsapp and telegram calls [con el pretexto de las llamadas de estafadores, aunque estas siempre son por teléfono tradicional] As of September 1, all devices will have to have the messaging service promoted by the Government, Max. Well, because it will be installed by default in stores, or because all efforts with the administration and chats of schools and companies have been moved to that platform, which will have access to all contacts and phone documents.
In addition, since September 1 it will be forbidden to public Putinism. Proscriptas VPN can hide the user’s navigation in the eyes of the FSB, and from now on its use will be considered an aggravating person in the convictions.
In case all this intrusion were little, immigrants from countries that do not need a work visa, such as Belarus and the Republics of Central Asia, will have to have another program installed on the mobile other program that reports from their geolocation as of September.
No one is safe
Serguéi Markov, a political scientist and exassor of the Russian president, cried this week in his own defense: “Everything is lies! They are deepfakes [vídeos y audios manipulados]! Everyone knows that Markov is a Russian patriot and a firm supporter of Putin. I believe in Russia! Support to Vladimir Putin! ”
This Black brand He already made his victims’ life impossible. For example, he prohibited participating in political life and forced each publication on the Internet under a threat of a fine only for being considered “under foreign influence.” However, a new law carries this label further.
As of September 1, citizens labeled as foreign agents will be prohibited from participating in any disseminating and educational activity. As a result, bookstores that dare to distribute their works will lose all state aid and will have the sale of books to schools and libraries. This proscription has caused the booksellers to try to get rid of these works with discounts from 20% to 50% these days.
On September 1, the new school year also starts. The schools will reduce their teaching hours of foreign languages while the contents of the invasion of Ukraine and their “military glories” increase. One of its subjects plagued by ultra -nationalist propaganda, Conversation about the importantwill be extended for the first time to the nurseries. It taught to die for the country and the assumptions “traditional values” that Putin says to defend against “the decay” of the West are exalted.
This crusade has reached absurd levels this summer with the cataloging of “International satanic movement“As” extremist. “It is an abstract concept that jurists fail to realize. A song from Prince of darkness Ozzy Osbourne or a screenshot of the saga Diablo They can be perfectly punishable.
This week a man from the Kurgan region, in Los Urals, has been the first citizen fined by satanic extremism for having an image of a demon in Vkontakte, the Russian Facebook. The fine, of 1,000 rubles (11 euros) is symbolic, although an accumulation of faults can lead to worse investigations, especially if it is “extremist material.”
The Russians will have to walk with an eye. One of the most popular parties in the country, Halloween, is close. Disguising themselves as a crime and the police have made raids for two years at parties, especially liberals and LGTB. A spiritual reference of Putin, the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, condemns these costumes while praising death in the front. “Thank God LGBT propaganda is already prohibited. However, it is important to go further,” said the cleric last year when he demanded to end Halloween, “that horrible bacanal brought from abroad and oblivious to our traditional values.”
