By Olha Chepil | 2023-11-02

KYIV -- In an attempt to quash dissent spurred by the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin's repression of citizens has reached unprecedented levels, human rights activists say.

From the earliest days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine 18 months ago, a wave of repression also started within Russia.

During that time, almost 20,000 Russians have been arrested for their antiwar stance, some of whom have been prosecuted criminally, OVD-Info, an independent human rights defense and media group, reported August 24.

"We saw mass repression in Russia under Stalin. We're now seeing targeted repression in Russia," said Daria Korolenko, a lawyer and analyst for OVD-Info who is temporarily in exile.

"More than 700 defendants in criminal cases who became victims for opposing the war, political prisoners, many administrative cases, and every day the list of 'foreign agents' is getting longer," she told Kontur.

The Kremlin's repression has not yet escalated to the point where it could be called mass repression, according to Korolenko, but it is heading in that direction.

"While it is true that for now they aren't executing dissenters and opposition leaders, they are giving out very long sentences," said Alexei Baranovsky, a Kyiv-based lawyer and spokesperson for the Freedom of Russia Legion and Russian opposition.

"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin's regime hasn't hit rock bottom yet. When the situation becomes untenable for the Kremlin regime, they will cross the last hurdle. And then ... sooner or later they'll reinstate the death penalty," he told Kontur.

'Locked up for anything'

Russian courts recently sentenced at least 16 defendants in criminal cases, according to OVD-Info.

Among them are Ruslan Leviyev, the founder of the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), and investigative journalist Michael Nacke, who were sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison in August.

The Kremlin also declared CIT an "undesirable" organization and banned its activities in the country.

Mikhail Afanasyev, editor-in-chief of the Novy fokus (New Focus) newspaper, in September received a five-and-a-half-year jail sentence. He also was banned from journalistic work for two and a half years after his release from prison.

Ioann Kurmoyarov, a former priest-monk of the Russian Orthodox Church who ran a YouTube channel called the "Orthodox Virtual Parish," received a three-year jail sentence in August and is prohibited from publishing online for two years.

In his videos, Kurmoyarov outlined his religious opposition to Russia's war in Ukraine.

All of the defendants were found guilty of disseminating "false stories" or "fakes" about Russia's armed forces based on censorship laws adopted by the State Duma in March 2022, a few days after the start of the all-out war on Ukraine.

Most recently, on Wednesday (October 4), a court sentenced exiled journalist Marina Ovsyannikova in absentia for protesting against Moscow's offensive in Ukraine.

Ovsyannikova, 45, held up a protest placard during a live evening news programme in March 2022 but was sentenced for a separate protest she made outside the Kremlin four months later.

"The court sentenced Ovsyannikova to eight years and six months' imprisonment, to be served in a general regime penal colony," the Moscow prosecutor's office said.

In a statement posted Tuesday before the sentencing, Ovsyannikova called the charges against her "absurd and politically motivated."

"They decided to flog me for not being afraid and for calling things by their names," she said.

"People are getting locked up for anything," Baranovsky said.

"They're getting put behind bars for things like having the wrong picture on their phone, for instance," he said. "There have been cases where someone happened to notice the logo of [Ukraine's] Azov regiment on someone's phone in the subway and that person was arrested and prosecuted."

"There was a man in St. Petersburg who was creating antiwar posters on his own property. He was arrested too for discrediting the Russian army," he continued. "[Theater director] Zhenya Berkovich staged a show and got arrested."

Baranovsky said dark times have begun in Russia.

"This is a new phase, of course," he said. "Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, things like this weren't happening. Now we're seeing an extreme crackdown. Putin has lowered an iron curtain onto Russia."

'Unprecedented' repression

The top United Nations (UN) expert tasked with investigating the situation of human rights in Russia also found "unprecedented" levels of repression in Russia.

In September, Mariana Katzarova, the UN special rapporteur on Russia, presented her report to the UN Human Rights Council.

"The level of repression against the civil society, independent media and generally to anybody with a dissenting voice ... is unprecedented in recent history," she said September 22 at a news conference in Geneva.

"Civic society in Russia has been closed by the authorities," she said, adding that the "repression is very sophisticated," with new laws presented virtually every week "to stifle" any form of criticism or dissent.

The situation is not yet comparable to the level of repression seen during the Soviet Union's Stalinist era, when millions perished in gulags, Katzarova said. "But now is the opportunity … to not let the situation in Russia itself deteriorate to the level of the previous historical Stalinist repressions in this country."

Russia has refused to permit her access to its territory, or to even recognize her mandate, which is due to expire this month -- unless the council votes in favor of a resolution to extend it.

In her report, Katzarova highlighted soaring numbers of defendants prosecuted on "politically motivated charges" since Russia launched its invasion, with 513 such prosecutions in 2022 and nearly 200 so far this year.

She also decried how espionage and treason charges were increasingly being used to silence journalists.

'Discontent with Putin building'

Almost no organizations are left in Russia that can independently monitor repression within the country, said Baranovsky of Kyiv. Therefore, no one knows exactly how many Russians have been convicted of and arrested for taking an antiwar stance.

"All the organizations, like NGOs, are either banned or have been forced out of the country," he said.

"A huge number of my counterparts, independent journalists, rights activists, have left Russia out of concern for their own safety," said Korolenko of OVD-Info. "We're seeing that many, many people have been intimidated, they're lost, they don't know what to do next."

Daria Apakhonchich, an artist and feminist from St. Petersburg, has been organizing antiwar festivals and exhibitions since 2014.

In 2020, the Russian authorities placed her on the list of media "foreign agents" and the Ministry of Justice compelled her to send quarterly reports on her activities.

Now, instead of reports she sends antiwar comic strips expressing her disagreement with the war in Ukraine.

"I was fined for sending reports to the Ministry of Justice in the wrong format, and there were complaints about that. I may get new fines," Apakhonchich said.

Apakhonchich, who now lives in Tbilisi, Georgia, said she dreams of being able to return to Russia.

"The saddest thing is probably that in Russia people who oppose the war aren't expressing it because it's dangerous," she told Kontur. "It's terrifying to open your mouth. But their anger is obviously building, and discontent with Putin's position is obviously building."