Political Repressions Increasing Not Only Because of Putin But Also Because of Russian People, Vishnevsky Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, October 31 – Boris Vishnevsky, an opposition deputy in St. Petersburg’s assembly, says that political repressions in Russia are on the rise not just because Vladimir Putin views them as the only way to keep power but also because “the majority of society is completely indifferent” to this development.

            Few Russians show up for demonstrations against past and present repression, he says, and “journalists are interested in this as a rule only if the repressions involve some very well-known personages or are quite massive or very harsh.” Otherwise, they pass over them in silence. And Internet reports reach only a small audience(rosbalt.ru/posts/2018/10/31/1743341.html).

                “What are the reasons for this?” Vishnevsky asks rhetorically. “Some do not believe there are any repressions because they watch television which tells them that there are no political prisoners in Russia. Some consider that the only victims are those who violate the law … and Some aren’t upset because neither they nor their relatives and friends have been touched” yet.

            According to the deputy, “the indifferent majority does not understand” that repressions can touch anyone for the most accidental of reasons and that then there will be nothing that can be done.  Consequently, “don’t ask for whom the bell of political repressions tolls. At any moment as in former times, it can toll for you. And then it will be too late to protest.”