Russian Siloviki Increasingly Opening Political Cases against Women in North Caucasus and Elsewhere, Lawyer Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 14 – Until Putin launched his expanded war against Ukraine in 2022, Russian force structures generally avoided bringing political charges against women, treating them as being under the control of the men in their lives and thus not appropriate subjects for political charges, a lawyer in the North Caucasus speaking anonymously says.

            But since that time, he continues, the Russian force structures have changed their attitude and now are ready to arrest women who engage in political activity ever more often and now close to the same rates as the men in their regions and republics (storage.googleapis.com/snaplink/RWv3P.html).

            This change in approach has helped push up the share of women among all those incarcerated in Russia, but perhaps more importantly, it is a sign that women, especially in the North Caucasus, are playing an ever greater role among activists and that the Kremlin has decided that it has to crack down hard lest the situation get out of hand.