The Russian Federation continues to adopt new bills that are designed to intimidate opposition activists in the temporarily occupied territories.
Thus, on January 19, 2024, the Russian Federation added the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists to the list of Nazi organizations, thus banning not only its activities, but also the slogans Glory to Ukraine! and Glory to the heroes!
Also, on January 23 of the same year, the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation assigned the Anti-War Committee of Russia the status of an undesirable organization, that is, further cooperation with it would entail criminal liability. Along with him, the French organization Russie-Libertes and the Spanish La Asociacion de Rusos Libres were included in the list.
A day after this, the Russian State Duma, in the first reading, adopted a package of bills that strengthen liability for leaks of personal data of Russians, which will significantly complicate the conduct of journalistic investigations. The maximum sanction for this offence is imprisonment for up to 10 years with a fine of up to 3 million rubles.
In addition, a bill was adopted according to which they are going to confiscate property for disseminating fakes about the Russian army.
Why are the occupiers tightening their legislation?
“This practice is common among authoritarian regimes. Any disagreement or criticism is perceived as a threat, and they try to respond to it accordingly. Of course, such innovations in legislation, as always, will be illegally extended to the territory of occupied Crimea and therefore we are forced to analyze them”,- commented Lawyer of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center Liudmyla Korotkykh on such actions.
She explained that these acts are aimed at suppressing anti-war sentiment, and this is a sign of low support for the war among Russians and residents of the occupied territories. Therefore, the occupiers are actively trying to hide their own losses, such as the destruction of equipment and military facilities or losses among personnel.
“When materials appear on social networks or in the media that directly or indirectly confirm this, it becomes much more difficult to refute such news. Hence the attempts to intimidate the population with confiscation of property and fines for allegedly leaking personal data. And of course, the last, but most important point, this is all happening with the aim of expanding the tools of pressure and persecuting the disloyal and inconvenient population”,- she explained.
Russians are actively trying to create the appearance of non-existent support for the authorities by intimidating activists and the local population so that they do not express their own opinions.
“We already see how frequent cases of persecution for allegedly discrediting the Russian army have become, how actively this is covered in the information space, some exemplary punishments, and with these innovations we can expect a new wave of fabrication of cases and the transformation of Crimea into a zone where everyone will be afraid to express any that opinion. In this way, the Russians are trying to create the appearance of support for the authorities, especially on the eve of the elections, and the appearance that everything is fine in the occupied territories and no one is against it”,- she adds.