It is wrong to say that the Russians do not protest

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The author is English editor at OVD-Info, a human rights watchdog group in Russia

More than a year after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, my western friends often ask me: why don’t the Russians protest? The answer is that some do – but the protest is largely futile in the face of a decade-long Kremlin crackdown.

AT OVD-Info, a Russian human rights organization with several hundred affiliated lawyers, we see signs of resistance daily. We do our best to protect those who are persecuted for their anti-war beliefs, a movement that persists despite draconian sanctions. The Russians from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific stand against the invasion. Demonstrations range from handing out leaflets to solitary pickets and the burning of military recruiting offices.

Authorities respond by jailing dissidents for decades and hunting down activists. Vladimir Kara Murzaan opposition activist, was jailed last month for 25 years on trumped-up treason charges in a legal process he likened to Joseph Stalin-era trials. Alexei Navalnyanother opposition leader, has been in jail since returning to Russia in 2021 from Germany, where he was recovering from an assassination attempt.

Ordinary Russians live in fear of committing crimes of opinion for opposing the war. The Kremlin crackdown did not happen overnight, on February 24, 2022, when the full-scale attack on Ukraine began. It evolved over time, shaped by fear of a democratic wave in the former Soviet Union and by preparations for war. To explain contemporary Russian dissent, we need to understand how and why the Kremlin has become so effective in suppressing it.

Russians are best seen as a nation held hostage by an authoritarian ruler Vladimir Poutine who, like the KGB security police he once worked for, has become expert at suppressing dissent. As such, they are terrified of voicing their opinions. Those who speak to journalists are attacked by the regime. Only a minority of Russians are either ardently pro-war or ardently anti-war. The majority languishes in helplessness and fear.

We recently published a report on the use of section 212.1 of the Russian criminal code. It is a tiny part of the apparatus of repression, but it illustrates the objectives of the Kremlin. The article targets politically minded people and calls the activists “recidivists”. The first participation in an “illegal” demonstration or perceived participation in a demonstration (the authorities consider almost all opposition demonstrations to be illegal) normally only results in a fine, but a repeat offense can earn you five years from prison.

The article was published in 2014, partly in response to Ukraine’s Maidan revolution, and about two years after the 2011-2012 Russian revolution. pro-democracy protests in Bolotnaya Square in Moscow, where thousands marched against Putin’s regime. Pro-government lawmakers have called Article 212.1 a “vaccine against Maidan”.

The Kremlin wanted to sow fear, and it worked. At first, the article was rarely used, but when it was, it chilled activism and terrified the media and would-be protesters. A Damocles Sword hangs permanently above their heads.

The introduction of this article was the first sign of the regime’s wanton persecution of protesters. We estimate that since 2015, 496 people have faced criminal charges for protesting and over 60,000 other protesters have been disciplined for minor offences. Every Russian protester now knows that by simply marching through the streets, they could walk straight to jail. Yet they protest.

To finally put out the fire, months before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin embarked on a scorched-earth assault on civil society. Activists have been exiled, organizations destroyed, their websites and funding blocked – OVD-Info included. Russians are now afraid to speak out because any action could be perceived as a “protest”.

It was to be expected that the Russian protests would be powerless to stop the invasion. What was unexpected was that Russian civil society did not crumble in the face of this onslaught. Thousands of Russians still took to the streets. Exiles continued anti-war activism abroad. Every major independent Russian media organization opposed to war. Human rights groups like ours have continued to resist Kremlin authoritarianism.

So why aren’t the Russians protesting? Yes, but their protests are suppressed by a powerful and cruel regime. If governments and people abroad want Russians to demonstrate more, they should support Russian civil society and help us overcome fear. Together we can fight this evil.