Russian Interior Ministry Maintaining Data Base of All Opposed to Putin's War, Tatarstan Supreme Court Says

 Paul Goble

    Staunton, Mar. 5 -- Human rights experts have long assumed that the Russian force structures have been keeping particularly close track of Russians who do or say anything against Putin's expanded war in Ukriane. But because such a list would violate Russian law, Moscow officials have not mentioned its existence.

    Now, however, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan has pointed out that someone charged with a crime there is on such a list of anti-war Russians, thereby providing official confirmation of the existence of this kind of data base (idelreal.org/a/kormovaya-baza-v-tatarstane-siloviki-priznali-suschestvovanie-kartoteki-s-dose-na-antivoennyh-rossiyan/33329785.html).

    Lawyers in Tatarstan say that the list, which apparently includes not only those who take part in protests against the war but also those involved in other acts of protest against the Putin regime help the interior ministry identify those it can charge whenever it needs to boost its arrest statistics and standing with the Kremlin.