Putin’s Campaign against ‘Foreign Agents’ a Crime Against Russia, Igor Chubais Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 12 – The Putin regime’s effort to silence and drive out the best of Russians by labelling them foreign agents is the latest case of a crime Russian governments have been guilty of before, a crime that one can only hope Russians will recognize and draw “the necessary conclusions,” Igor Chubais says.

            Fundamentally, the Moscow commentator says, this policy reflects the fact that “the existing political system is incompatible with a free civil society; and as long as it is maintained, civic structures vitally needed for a normal country will be destroyed, thus depriving the regime of the last remnants of legitimacy” (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=61B52555207D0).

            And what that means is that Russians must go over from defending this or that group such as Memorial from that charge to attacking the entire idea behind labelling any individual or group a foreign agent and thus the system that sees such attacks as essential to the maintenance of its power.

            Under the provisions of the Putin regime’s foreign agents campaign, “any Russian who gets support from any foreign foundation or foreign state can be declared an enemy of the people. In other words,” Chubais says, “in the opinion of the powers that be, the entire surrounding world is a dangerous opponent.”

            “Such an approach in fact testifies not about the hostility of the external world but about the bankruptcy of leaders whom no one trusts and who in this way in fact acknowledge that they simply have no friends and no supporters!” Chubais continues.

            “It is obvious to everyone that the corrupt and demoralized officials will never be declared foreign agents – for the powers, they are their own, close, even family. Only those who are honest, principled and bravely stand up will be so denounced. A foreign agent is anyone who does not agree with the policy of the powers and who has moral principles.”

            According to Chubais, “’the struggle’ with foreign agents is an example of the anti-government policy which is discrediting out country” abroad, and within the country, it is deepening the divide between those who are persecuted and those who are doing or support the persecution.

            Tragically, this is a repetition of the Bolshevik policy of driving people out or killing them at home; and no one should be under the misconception that those in power don’t know what they are doing. They understand perfectly well, the Moscow commentator says. What is critical is that the Russian people understand too and take the necessary actions.