Kynyev Case Shows Moscow Actively Working to ‘Depoliticize Repression,’ Gallyamov and Romanova Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 25 – The arrest of Aleksandr Kynyev, one of Russia’s most prominent independent electoral analysts, on drug charges just five days after the Duma vote highlights the Moscow’s increasing desire to “depoliticize repression” by using ordinary criminal charges rather than “political” ones against its opponents, Abbas Gallyamov and Olga Romanova say.

            The former Putin speechwriter and now Putin critic and the head of the Russia Behind Bars organization respectively make that point, arguing that it serves the Putin regime by suggesting that its opponents are mere criminals rather than political actors (t.me/abbasgallyamovpolitics/11179 and echofm.online/opinions/narkoticheskie-stati-pozvolyayut-depolitizirovat-repressiyu).

            There are three reasons why Moscow is increasingly choosing to use ordinary criminal charges rather than political ones, Romanova says. First and most important, doing so allows the Kremlin to “depoliticize repression,” giving it the opportunity to treat those who act in ways it doesn’t like not as political opponents but as ordinary criminals.

            Second, she continues, charges like possession of drugs carry far more weighty sentences than do the political provisions of Russian law. If Kynyev and others charged like him are found guilty and there is little doubt he and they will be, all of them could face as much as 20 years behind bars, not the far fewer that political paragraphs of the law allow.

            And third, manufacturing and presenting evidence  in drug cases is far easier and less dangerous than in political ones, easier because drugs can be planted and less dangerous than having what the accused have actually said and done and makes it less likely that supporters will attract more support for those the state is repressing.

            “To say that drug laws are the main instrument of political repressions in present-day Russia would be incorrect,” Romanova says. “Now it is much easier to use the paragraphs about extremism, terrorism, military ‘fakes’ and the like. But the drug laws are an old and well know instrument precisely for cases when the powers want to make their actions look non-political.”

            Kynyev is a perfect case for using ordinary rather than political charges, she suggests. He is a very public political scientist who has already been designated a foreign agent. But it is unclear just who made this decision. Normally it would be Putin and the Presidential Administration; but a Vyorstka report says the PA was “surprised” by it.

            If so, Romanova says, that “could mean that this initiative did not originate from the usual political channels” but instead came from the FSB. In that case, this is another piece of evidence showing that the FSB is increasingly setting the weather even in cases where the PA had done so in the past.