In Stalin’s Time, Russians Denounced Others to Get Apartments; Now, in Putin’s, They Do So to Get Medical Care They Want

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Dec. 5 – The ways in which Stalinism is returning to Russia  are truly insidious. Among the worst is this: In Stalin’s time, Russians denounced others to get their apartments ns joba; now, in Putin’s, they claim doctors have said something against the war in Ukraine if they want them fired and replaced with someone who’ll give them the care they want.
    This type of behavior has been documented by Novaya Gazeta, which observes that “the scariest part” of such actions is that “the state encourages such behavior,” leading patients to record medical appointments or make up charges that have no basis in reality if they don’t like the medical care they are receiving (novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/12/04/ia-prosto-molchu).
    What is especially disturbing is that this tactic has now led doctors to avoid giving their opinions even among themselves, a pattern that suggests denunciations used to achieve personal goals not just in medicine but in other spheres as well have again become commonplace in Russia today.