2024 Marked a Partial Stabilization of ‘New Repressive Landscape’ in Russia, OVD-Info Expert Says

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Dec. 17 – The Kremlin’s increasing repression has driven anti-war protests almost completely underground, led to the growth of attacks on groups and in places far from the center, and increasingly involved “uncivil society,” groups that share the values of the state but at least nominally aren’t part of it, according to Dan Storyev.
    The managing reporter at OVD-Info which tracks repression in the Russian Federation says that all these developments have come after “the Kremlin’s successful obliteration of opposition structures within Russia” and opens the way to an even more totalitarian system (ridl.io/russia-s-repressive-home-front/).
    The repressive approach of the government regarding anti-war protest means that while 18,910 Russians were detained for taking part in such demonstrations in 2022, only 34 have been so far in 2024, as people have shifted from open protests to underground actions that the authorities have had more difficulty in stamping out.
    In response to this shift, the powers have brought more charges against people for criticizing the army or the war in Ukraine and have done so against members of groups and especially those far from Moscow who were not touched in the past. In fact, Storyev says, “repression is now reaching places that previously didn’t engage in political activity.”
    But the two most important developments in this area lie elsewhere: the use of groups like the Russian Community and others allied with the government to carry out Kremlin repression and the expansion of repression against personal autonomy concerning abortions, gender roles and so on.