Russia crosses new lines in crackdown on Putin’s enemies

Years of Russian repression may have appeared to have succeeded in jailing or expelling most Kremlin opponents and shutting down liberal journalism outlets and human rights groups.

In three weeks, Russia’s security agencies and courts have crossed many new thresholds in their quest to kill adversaries, spies, and traitors.

The March 29 arrest of Wall Street Journal writer Evan Gershkovich warned the few surviving Western journalists in Russia about the dangers of traveling, talking to sources, and doing their jobs.

Moscow last jailed an American journalist for alleged espionage in 1986, when the country was under Soviet communist rule. Gershkovich, his paper, and the U.S. government deny the charge.

On Monday, Vladimir Kara-Murza was imprisoned for treason and propagating “false information” on Russia’s war in Ukraine. His 25-year sentence for opposing the Russian invasion was three times the previous longest.

The next day, supporters of Alexei Navalny, the most prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin serving 11-1/2 years for fraud and contempt of court, said he had been beaten by prison guards for the first time and faced five more years for thwarting prison authorities.

The jail service handles Navalny’s treatment, according to the Kremlin. Putin warned Russians that the West is using traitors as a “fifth column” to destabilize and destroy Russia.

Since mid-March, Russia’s parliament has expanded censorship restrictions on what citizens can say about its armed services and increased treason penalties to life instead of 20 years.

The father of a Russian girl who drew an anti-war painting was sentenced to two years in prison and caught in Belarus when he fled. Ilya Yashin, another opposition leader, lost his appeal against an 8-1/2-year sentence for “false information” against the military this week.

“Totalitarianism is coming.” “It was perceivable one year and a half ago, but now it’s full-scale,” said Nicolas Tenzer, senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis and Kara-Murza’s friend.

Arrest warrant
Since March 17, when the ICC accused Putin of war crimes, the trend has escalated. The arrest order, which Russia rejected since it is not a member of the ICC, showed that Putin had no way back in ties with the West and nothing to lose.

Putin seems unconcerned about Western opinion. “He just wants to go all-out in his repression and war,” Tenzer said in a phone interview.

The treatment of Navalny and Kara-Murza by Putin and the authorities was “pure sadism,” according to Maria Alyokhina, a member of the Pussy Riot female punk group who spent nearly two years in a Russian jail colony for opposing the Kremlin.

“They’re losing the war. They’re furious. Out of powerlessness, fear, and wrath, they are retaliating. “In that sense, they won’t stop,” she told Reuters.

“It can get worse.”

‘THEY’RE KILLING HIM’
Supporters of Navalny and Kara-Murza, both in terrible condition after surviving security agency poisoning attempts that the Kremlin denies, fear they may not survive their long prison terms.

Last Monday, Navalny’s associates reported significant weight loss and severe gastrointestinal pain, suggesting another gradual poisoning attempt.

“They are killing Navalny in prison,” stated his associate Maria Pevchikh. Russia’s jail service declined comment.

Tenzer said the deaths of Kara-Murza or Navalny would cause outcry, but Putin may think the West has done all it can after imposing waves of sanctions on Moscow and arming its nemesis, Ukraine.

Gershkovich and the imprisoned Russians may benefit the Kremlin temporarily. Recent experience shows the American may be exchanged in a prisoner exchange when his case is resolved, while Navalny and Kara-Murza’s trials neutralize Putin’s most prominent adversaries and dissuade others from speaking out.

Creating significant opposition icons or martyrs may have long-term repercussions.

Putin’s position is not under danger, but former political prisoners like Vaclav Havel in Czechoslovakia, Nelson Mandela in South Africa, and Michelle Bachelet in Chile have become presidents. Last September, Iran’s morality police killed 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, sparking nationwide protests.

“Every dictatorial regime believes itself to be invincible, and yet every dictatorial regime falls in the end,” Kara-Murza’s wife Evgenia remarked following his sentencing on Monday.