‘Z’ Channel Calls for Reprisals against Ingush Activist

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 5 – Many people in the Russian Federation who oppose the Kremlin on various issues also oppose it on Putin’s war in Ukraine, and so it is perhaps not surprising that the “Z” channels are attacking them and calling on others to attack them on those grounds. But this trend is disturbing on two grounds.

            On the one hand, it signals that the Putin regime views its propaganda arm on the war as an all-purpose tool to be used against any and all of its opponents. And on the other, it reflects another recrudescence of the Stalinist past when whatever charge was levelled by the regime be it “enemy of the people” or “rootless cosmopolitan” soon spread to all regime opponents.

            The latest example involves a “Z” telegram channel attack on Izabella Yevloyeva, founder and editor of the Fortanga portal who has been forced to emigrate because of her activism in support of the Ingush opposition to the land deal with Chechnya (fortanga.org/2022/04/v-internete-poyavilis-prizyvy-k-kiberatakam-protiv-izabelly-evloevoj/).

            Because she is no longer within the borders of the Russian Federation, the channel calls for a cyberattack on her and her publication because of what it says is her dissemination of “Ukrainian fake news.” It adds but clearly as a secondary issue in this context, her supposed incitement of hostility among the peoples of the North Caucasus.

            For these reasons, the “Z” channel argues, her personal Internet accounts and those of Fortanga must be blocked. The call sparked an immediate upsurge in denial-of-service attacks on both; and while this is not the first time, Moscow-linked and inspired groups have done so, the moves this time appear more serious.

            Meanwhile, in another Ingushetia development, independent activists have launched an appeal for contributions to help the families of the imprisoned Ingush Seven leaders. Organizers say they are doing so on their own and not because of any request from the prisoners (fortanga.org/2022/04/obyavlen-sbor-pomoshhi-semyam-figurantov-ingushskogo-dela/).

            Intriguingly, the organizers are combining both the most modern and the most traditional ways of gathering funds, asking people to send money to a bank account  either via the Internet or via the Union of Teips.