The head of Russias human rights council on Wednesday called Moscows significant crackdown on dissent part of sanitary measures while the country battles in Ukraine, denying the existence of political repression.Russia has actually banned criticism of its war on Ukraine, giving out prison terms or fines to those who knock it.
All of President Vladimir Putins challengers remain in exile or prison, or dead.
What we see now yes, it is a challenging and difficult situation, we are at war with the West, the head of the presidential human rights council Valery Fadeyev said, according to the Interfax news company.
And some minimal constraints on those who are actually on the side of the opponent are not repressions, but minimal hygienic procedures.
Asked if the governmental council would lobby for amnesties as was previously the case, Fadeyev stated: This is not on the agenda right now.
Russian authorities have consistently utilized the term cleansing to describe the ostracizing of Russians who oppose the Ukraine war, with Putin himself in 2022 requiring the cleansing of traitors from Russian society.