Moscow Now Going After Not Only Those who Oppose It but Even Those who Don’t Support It with Sufficient Enthusiasm, ‘Russia in Jail’ Expert Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 25 – Since the start of Putin’s expanded war in Ukraine, the number of cases where individuals have been charged with political crimes has increased dramatically, with the number charged with treason alone having grown by 1000 percent since that time, Olga Romanova says.

            The number of such charges is constantly increasing, the founder of the Russia in Jail foundation says, with the latest innovation involving “the persecution not only of activists with a clear civic position but also of those who have remained silent or not spoken out sufficiently openly in support of the war” (theins.ru/opinions/olga-romanova/281419).

            Using the old standard that in a democracy, everything that is not prohibited is permitted; in an authoritarian regime, everything that is not permitted is prohibited; and in a totalitarian one, everything that is permitted is compulsory, this is yet more evidence if such is needed that the Putin regime is cross the line from the second to the third kind of government.