Residents of Russian North Subject to Increasing Repression for Anti-War Actions

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 15 – Since Putin began his war in Ukraine on February 24, more than 15,000 Russians have been detained for their opposition to the invasion (ovdinfo.org/). While they have typically attracted less attention than those in Moscow or the Caucasus, “many of these people are from northern Russia, Atle Staalesen says.

            The Barents Observer commentator offers a detailed survey of the most prominent cases there, cases that involve both ethnic Russians in the major cities and non-Russians in smaller cities and the republics (thebarentsobserver.com/ru/demokraticheskoe-obshchestvo/2022/06/kak-v-rossii-boryutsya-protiv-voyny).

            In addition to reporting about cases in Arkhangelsk, some of which have attracted attention in Moscow, Staalesen details the detentions for anti-war activities in Karelia and the Komi Republic which haven’t.

            In Karelia, he reports, one woman, Tatyana Savinkina was fined 30,000 rubles (400 US dollars) for distributing anti-war leaflets to her neighbors. Her supporters helped pay her fine (t.me/horizontal_russia/11379). Anna Boykova was punished with community service for her anti-war articles on her webpage (semnasem.org/news/2022/06/07/kaliningradskoj-aktivistke-naznachili-50-chasov-obyazatelnyh-rabot-za-repost-antivoennoj-akcii). And a third anti-war activist there, Irina Bystrova, was incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital (t.me/activata/21171).

            In the Komi Republic, two activists, Dimitry Sekushin and Yury Shcherbachev were fined for anti-war posts (t.me/activata/21175 and https/t.me/sotaproject/41690). And a third, kindergarten teacher Lyudmila Zaychenko, was fined for speaking against the war (t.me/horizontal_russia/11447).

            Two other cases involving Komi activists are especially interesting. Aleksey Ivanov called the police fascists but says he doesn’t believe he has insulted anyone because “our country actually is fascist” (https://t.me/sotaproject/16190). When he was brought to court, he demanded officials use Komi rather than Russian; but before sentence was handed down, he fled Russia.

            And Komi teacher Nikita Tushkanov, the descendant of GULAG prisoners, was fired several months ago from his position for speaking out against the war (thebarentsobserver.com/en/democracy-and-media/2021/01/big-hassle-north-russian-town-local-school-teacher-stands-free-speech).

            In an interview, he said that the authorities are destroying education by promoting the false Kremlin narrative about Ukraine being part of Russia. He says that even though “we are moving toward the year 1937,” he doesn’t want to leave because “I love Komi, the culture and history of the republic and my native Komi language.”