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May 28, 2015 6:17 pm
Russia censors discussion of involvement in Ukraine
Kathrin Hille in Moscow
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - MARCH 29: Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov looks on in memory of the victims of a blast inside the Lubyanka metro station on March 29, 2010 in Moscow, Russia. At least 38 people were killed and 60 injured as two separate female suicide bombers blew themselves up on trains on Moscow's metro during morning rush hour. Twenty-five people died in the Lubyanka station blast and around 45 minutes later a second explosion occurred at the Park Kultury station leaving another 12 people dead. (Photo by Dmitry Korotayev/Epsilon/Getty Images)©Getty
Associates of murdered opposition politician Boris Nemtsov published a damning report earlier this month
Russia has made it a crime to speak, write or broadcast about Russian troop losses in peacetime and about people co-operating with Russian foreign intelligence, in what critics said was a Kremlin attempt to stop all information about Moscow’s involvement in the war in Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday spelling out more than 20 additions to Russia’s state secrets law, including “information which reveals personnel losses in times of war and in peace time while a special operation is being conducted”.
The new censorship rules mean families of Russian soldiers killed fighting in Ukraine or activists researching Moscow’s clandestine campaign risk prison sentences of up to eight years.
“It appears that the position of just denying there are Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine cannot last any longer,” said Kirill Koroteev, a lawyer with Memorial, the human rights group.
Earlier this month, associates of the murdered opposition politician Boris Nemtsov published a damning report that said at least 220 active Russian soldiers had died fighting in Ukraine.
Days before he was shot in central Moscow in February, Nemtsov said he intended to enlighten the Russian people, starting with families of military and security officials, that Mr Putin was dragging the country into war.
“Now people will go to prison for searching for data about our fallen soldiers,” Ilya Yashin, one of Nemtsov’s closest associates and co-author of the report, wrote on Twitter.
Olga Romanova, a journalist and rights activist, wrote on her Facebook page: “These things mean that a blogger will be criminally prosecuted for writing about a young widow . . . crying after she received a coffin from Donbass.”
Technically, Russia’s state secrets law only covers certain institutions or persons. But legal experts said the new rules could easily be applied more broadly to silence families of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, activists distributing or publicly discussing such information and all media reports about Russian involvement in the war.
“It can be administratively abused in such a way that the body of a soldier killed in Ukraine or benefits will only be released to the family in exchange for them signing a guarantee that they will keep silent,” said Mr Koroteev.
The new list also stipulates that “information about persons under evaluation with the aim of recruiting them for co-operation on a confidential basis, [and] people who assist or have assisted the organs of foreign intelligence of the Russian Federation on a confidential basis” will be regarded as state secrets.
An activist at a soldiers’ rights group said this was a catch-all description designed to cover volunteers and soldiers who were forced by the military to resign from their official duty before being sent into battle.
May 28, 2015 6:17 pm
Russia censors discussion of involvement in Ukraine
Kathrin Hille in Moscow
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - MARCH 29: Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov looks on in memory of the victims of a blast inside the Lubyanka metro station on March 29, 2010 in Moscow, Russia. At least 38 people were killed and 60 injured as two separate female suicide bombers blew themselves up on trains on Moscow's metro during morning rush hour. Twenty-five people died in the Lubyanka station blast and around 45 minutes later a second explosion occurred at the Park Kultury station leaving another 12 people dead. (Photo by Dmitry Korotayev/Epsilon/Getty Images)©Getty
Associates of murdered opposition politician Boris Nemtsov published a damning report earlier this month
Russia has made it a crime to speak, write or broadcast about Russian troop losses in peacetime and about people co-operating with Russian foreign intelligence, in what critics said was a Kremlin attempt to stop all information about Moscow’s involvement in the war in Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday spelling out more than 20 additions to Russia’s state secrets law, including “information which reveals personnel losses in times of war and in peace time while a special operation is being conducted”.
The new censorship rules mean families of Russian soldiers killed fighting in Ukraine or activists researching Moscow’s clandestine campaign risk prison sentences of up to eight years.
“It appears that the position of just denying there are Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine cannot last any longer,” said Kirill Koroteev, a lawyer with Memorial, the human rights group.
Earlier this month, associates of the murdered opposition politician Boris Nemtsov published a damning report that said at least 220 active Russian soldiers had died fighting in Ukraine.
Days before he was shot in central Moscow in February, Nemtsov said he intended to enlighten the Russian people, starting with families of military and security officials, that Mr Putin was dragging the country into war.
“Now people will go to prison for searching for data about our fallen soldiers,” Ilya Yashin, one of Nemtsov’s closest associates and co-author of the report, wrote on Twitter.
Olga Romanova, a journalist and rights activist, wrote on her Facebook page: “These things mean that a blogger will be criminally prosecuted for writing about a young widow . . . crying after she received a coffin from Donbass.”
Technically, Russia’s state secrets law only covers certain institutions or persons. But legal experts said the new rules could easily be applied more broadly to silence families of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, activists distributing or publicly discussing such information and all media reports about Russian involvement in the war.
“It can be administratively abused in such a way that the body of a soldier killed in Ukraine or benefits will only be released to the family in exchange for them signing a guarantee that they will keep silent,” said Mr Koroteev.
The new list also stipulates that “information about persons under evaluation with the aim of recruiting them for co-operation on a confidential basis, [and] people who assist or have assisted the organs of foreign intelligence of the Russian Federation on a confidential basis” will be regarded as state secrets.
An activist at a soldiers’ rights group said this was a catch-all description designed to cover volunteers and soldiers who were forced by the military to resign from their official duty before being sent into battle.
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