Widespread repression in Russia of those who oppose the war in Ukraine
Published
by
Richard Kuper
JVL Introduction
Boris Kagarlitsky has been arrested in Russia, on fabricated charges of “justifying terrorism”, for speaking out against Putin’s Ukraine policy and the war. You can sign a petition calling for his release here.
The article below, reprinted from Jacobin, also mentions other instances of repression in Russia.
According to OVD-Info, an independent human rights defence and media group, more than 600 other people are facing criminal prosecution in Russia for opposing the war, and more than 19,000 have been arrested.
All of these are worthy of support. For example the 14 Crimean Tatar activists, arrested two days after Kagarlitsky, and that of the young Igor Paskar, who deliberately undertook a protest action against the war that has landed him with eight-and-a-half years’ in gaol for “vandalism” and “terrorism”, for whom solidarity is organised by Solidarity Zone (on Facebook and Telegram).
RK
This article was originally published by Jacobin on Fri 28 Jul 2023. Read the original here.
Free Boris Kagarlitsky
Sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky, a prominent Russian Marxist, has been detained by Vladimir Putin’s FSB on fabricated charges of “justifying terrorism.” His arrest shows how the Russian state is silencing critics of its war.
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I would like to know what the content of Kagaritsky’s discussion. Was he, in efect, “justifying terrorism” when discussing the motivations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Crimean Bridge explosion? As far as I can make out, the motivation of the Kiev regime since the 2014 coup have primarily been the desire to commit unremitting genocidal acts of terror against those of non-Galician ethnic groups, imprisoning it’s own political opponents, including Orthodox monks and nuns, and pressing men of all ages off the streets or out of their beds to become untrained soldiers/victims of the Russia “meatgrinder” on a wish and a prayer that sheer numbers will lead to a NATO victory.
I would also like to understand the argument and empirical details of the “political crisis resulting from military failures” when Russia is engaged in a very successul war of attrition against NATO and has a growing economy in the face of the ridiculous economic santions imposed by the West on Russia which have blown back to devastating effect on the European economies.
And what is this spookily strange, sectarian Union of cabbie and couriers, which seems as representative of the average cabbie or courier as the Socialist Labour League was in it’s heyday in the UK?
Thank you for reprinting this article.
If there is anyone on the ‘left’ who still thinks that Putin was goaded or provoked into his illegal invasion of Ukraine, and he is not a psychopathic imperialist, the treatment of Boris Kagarlitsky and others should surely convince them otherwise. Putin has even bombed those in Ukraine he lied about wanting to protect, therefore sections of the left should wake up and stop making excuses for him!
There is nothing new in the repression of the Crimean Tatars – Stalin deported them all in 1944. They never forgot their homeland and when Glasnost came they appealed to be allowed back and gradually DID return setting up their culture again.
I have been reading “Diary of an Invasion” by Andrey Kurkov and as well as the day to day occurrences Kurkov provides is a lot of history.
The Russians lie when they say that Ukraine is part of Russia as they are completely different. For example Russia is a “monarchy” whereas the Tatars elect their leader.
We are watching with interest whether Russia enables democracy, to stand with shoulders high, and take a higher moral stance than those of its detractors.
Quite true Jack T – according to Kurkov the Russian speaking areas have taken the brunt of the destruction.
(Kurkov is a novelist whose previous books have been written
in the Russian language.)
Margaret, don’t Russians elect their leader? Hasn’t Crimea been a part of a multi-ethnic Russia with a sustantial Russian population for more than two hundred years? Or do we only only respect the Territorial gains of the Golden Horde, ignore Crimea’s strategic position in the maintenance of a nuclear peace and allow it to revert to its historical role as a source of slaves for surrounding powers?
And, Jack, I am on the left and, much as I might disagree with spects of President Putin’s oulook on life, it is unarguable that Russia was provoked into taking military action to protect its strategic interests in Crimea and protect the Russian citizen of the Eastern (Russian) part of the territory known as the Ukraine, not least because the Kiev regime, France, Germany, the UK and the USA filed to observwe and enforce the Minsk Agreements, the secondof which was an international treaty accepted as such by the UN Security Council. And what about the little matter of he UK’s Prime Minister being sent by Biden to promise unlimited financial and military support to the Kiev regime if it did not sign the agreement which had been reached with the Russian Federation.
It is highly doubtful that President Putin has any psychopathic imperialist tendencies, unlike the EU amd NATO (or, given that neither is going to last for much longer, the Collective West). Indeed, Putin seems to be a model leader with enormous political and administrative skills, having in less than 20 years taken a basketcase of a country, rid the oligarchs and gangsters of their power, re-built the economy and system of social security, and turned it into a self-sustaining industrial, agricultural and, of necessity, miltary superpower which continues to defeat the forces of NATO on the battlefield. Would that the UK’s leaders since WWII had had Putin’s insight, psychological and administrative gifts. The UK might even have an NHS which works.
Too many people seem to think Ukraine is a one off and forget the destruction and genocide in Chechnya
Barrie Lambert, you need to remove your Putin tinted glasses, I can hardly believe what you’ve written. Putin is NOT Russia and he is a million miles away from Socialism. He is a despot, ruling with thuggery and intimidation and the Russian people are suffering because of it. No normal person would lie about their neighbours being a nuisance and use it as an excuse to bomb their house and murder them, when all the time his real intention was to take their land so that he could build an extension on his own house! It takes a psychopath to engage in such callous actions.
You are giving every tin pot leader an excuse to dream up a reason for mounting an illegal invasion upon another country which is absolutely no threat to them. There is no doubt at all that Putin did lie about his reasons for invading Ukraine, even Prigozhin admitted it.
Well Russians have been allowed to elect their leader for short periods of time but this right has now been eroded.
Kurkov says “Ukraine never had a Tsar and were never ready to obey one.”
Ukraine WAS independent until it asked for Russia’s help in a war against Poland in the mid 1600’s after which it was seized by Russia. It became independent for a few short years between 1917 and 1921 until it lost its War of Independence. It seems that the Crimean Tatars are again being crushed just as they were in 1944.
Yes of course Mike Cushman you are correct – Chechnya was bombed to rubble in the early 2000s and Russia got away with it. Corbyn was one of the few people who objected while Blair and Co were schmoozing with Putin and trying to get him to visit the UK.
I agree with Barrie Lambert and I’m uncomfortable with Jack T’S attack on the Left.
I’ll leave this link, Diane Sare is a US politician and I’ve followed her for a very long time and trust her judgement.
Diane Sare, a serious video full of facts about what the US is doing with regards to Ukraine.
https://www.facebook.com/Sare4Senate/videos/577171870738573/
The North American left and the European left have different perspectives on the whole, and this is because those of us living in Europe are that much closer to Russia and can see more easily what it is doing and what is going on there. However I have been disappointed that (for instance) Not the Andrew Marr Show seems to be putting out more or less the same POV as Barrie Lambert. It’s a relief that this does not seem to be shared by most JVL members writing here. Thank you!
Bernard Grant, I did not attack ‘the left’. By saying so, you are implying that all the Left think alike. As a Socialist, I criticised some on the left who have made excuses for Putin’s murderous attacks on innocent people, using the pretext that he is doing it to protect them. If you won’t accept it after seeing and hearing the evidence, you may consider yourself to be on the left, but it is most certainly not Socialism.
Right, so Putin has imperialist ambtions of resurrectng the Soviet Union – and no doubt then conquering Europe and then the rest of the world, eh Jack – and all the disquiet and opposition expressed by him during the past twenty years or so in respect of Nato’s eastward expansion – and Boris Yeltsin before him – was all just a game, a cover for the day he finally set about his conquest of the planet. And the security proposals that he – Russia – submitted in December 2021 (which the US/Nato dismissed out of hand) were just a ruse, and all the many experts and politicians who have warned about the consequences of Nato expansion eastwards during the past twenty-five years were obviously colluding with Putin of course. Here are the security proposals (from a John Pilger article on Feb 17, 2022, which he said: ‘…. amount to a comprehensive draft of a peace plan for all of post-war Europe and ought to be welcomed in the West.’):
– NATO guarantees that it will not deploy missiles in nations bordering Russia. (They are already in place from Slovenia to Romania, with Poland to follow)
– NATO to stop military and naval exercises in nations and seas bordering Russia.
– Ukraine will not become a member of NATO.
– the West and Russia to sign a binding East-West security pact.
– the landmark treaty between the US and Russia covering intermediate-range nuclear weapons to be restored. (The US abandoned it in 2019)
Also see the last paragraph of this (v long) John Mearsheimer article from 2014:
https://portside.org/2014-09-02/why-ukraine-crisis-wests-fault-liberal-delusions-provoked-putin
Here it is anyway:
The United States and its European allies now face a choice on Ukraine. They can continue their current policy, which will exacerbate hostilities with Russia and devastate Ukraine in the process — a scenario in which everyone would come out a loser. Or they can switch gears and work to create a prosperous but neutral Ukraine, one that does not threaten Russia and allows the West to repair its relations with Moscow. With that approach, all sides would win.
Yep, so all these journalists and left-wing commentators like John Pilger and John Mearsheimer and Caitlin Johnstone and Chris Hedges and Noam Chomsky and Johnathan Cook and numerous others were either colluding with Vladimir Putin, or he managed to dupe them all. Is THAT right Jack?!
Hmmm……..
Allan Howard “so all these journalists and left-wing commentators like John Pilger and John Mearsheimer and Caitlin Johnstone and Chris Hedges and Noam Chomsky and Johnathan Cook and numerous others were either colluding with Vladimir Putin, or he managed to dupe them all. Is THAT right Jack?!”
Absolutely! But they were not colluding with him, don’t twist my comments! Putin lied about his reasons for invading Ukraine and some on the left, whether they be well known commentators or not, either believed him or made excuses for him. Whatever their reasons, they were victms of ‘group think’ and did not wait for the evidence from people such as Boris Kagarlitsky to be made public before they shot from the hip. In fact Kagarlitsky’s evidence was not even needed to know and understand that by invading Ukraine in the circustances at the time, Putin commited the internationally acknowledged war crime of aggression, and the commentators you highlighted, if they were socialists, and not just trying to score points against NATO or the USA should have acknowledged it immediately and are now tainted for their poor judgement. Please don’t run away with the idea that because some people see themselves as being on the left, they can’t make a bad judgement call. I’ve had so called ‘lefties’ tell me they are Stalinists and others say they want a violent revolution. They are not my type of left and most certainly they are not Socialists!
Agree with Howard on all points and am shocked to hear JVL propagate Western propaganda to the extent that I almost consider terminating my membership. I have researched the situation as much as possible, while eliminating ANY info from UK/US sources and persist in my attitude which is that I support Putin and want him to win OK.
Regardless of whether or not the Russian intervention in Ukraine was justified the reality is that this is now a proxy war between the USA (and its satelites) and Russia – ‘to protect the rules based order’. The best thing that can happen for the developing world AND the Palestinians is that this ‘rules based order’ is ended. Many Governments in the developing world disapproved of Russias intervention but few have gone along with the sanctions designed to isolate and destroy it. We know that after Russia, China will be targetted. The US grip on the world is weakening. If Russia prevails in this conflct it will weaken further. This will be a positive result.
I’m sure most people on the left (and the right!) have heard about this since the invasion of Ukraine in February of last year (including Jack!), and no doubt there are some who heard about it at the time (although I’ve no idea how much coverage it got in the US and UK and European MSM etc, if any):
‘On June 26 [1997], a group of 50 prominent foreign policy experts that included former senators, retired military officers, diplomats and academicians, sent an open letter to President Clinton outlining their opposition to NATO expansion……’
The letter is included in the piece:
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/1997-06/arms-control-today/opposition-nato-expansion