The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is alarmed, in a report Thursday, by the intensification of repression in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, with the aim of silencing or fleeing the opponents.
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“The repression has gradually increased since 2012 and reached its peak with the laws adopted after the start of the war”, according to this document of more than 120 pages, which evokes “a climate of fear and intimidation”.
The dissemination of “false information” about the Russian armed forces is now punishable by 15 years in prison.
This legal arsenal has the effect of pushing NGOs, activists, human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists “to reduce or abandon their activities, or even to leave their country”, is it written in the report consulted by AFP, which is due to be presented to the OSCE Permanent Council today.
Especially since “the persecution is in broad daylight” and propaganda is in full swing.
Under the direct control of President Vladimir Putin, the authorities have “the ultimate goal of creating a monolithic society”, where all opponents are doomed to disappear from the public scene, adds the document, evoking “a growing isolation” of the Russian company.
Present this week in Vienna, headquarters of the OSCE, Evgenia Kara-Mourza, wife of political prisoner Vladimir Kara-Mourza, wants to be “the voice” of these opponents reduced to silence.
“It is very important to remember that this large-scale invasion of Ukraine is taking place against a backdrop of mass repression in Russia,” she said in an interview with reporters, as more than 1,300 protesters protesting against the partial mobilization were arrested on Wednesday.
She says she observes a realization: “Even those who are victims of brainwashing begin to ask questions, when they see that a war supposed to last three days has lasted for more than seven months” and that the sanctions begin to weigh.
Her husband, a fierce critic of the Kremlin and the Russian offensive in Ukraine, has been detained since April 2022 pending trial. This 41-year-old former journalist is one of the last major opponents living in Russia.
The report is the third made public by the OSCE since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, within the framework of the so-called “Moscow” mechanism.
It was drafted in August by a single rapporteur appointed by 38 of the 57 Member States, Angelika Nussberger, professor at the University of Cologne. Russia did not respond to the request to organize an on-site visit.
The first two reports had pointed to “manifest violations of rights” by Russian troops in Ukraine, which could constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The OSCE, established in 1975, at the heart of the Cold War, to promote East-West dialogue, had carried out a similar initiative in 2018 to examine crimes in Chechnya against LGBT + people or in 2020, following the elections. fraud and repression in Belarus.