Vladimir Putin is cracking down on critics in Russia. A journalist confronted the President.
Moscow – Even if the Ukrainian counter-offensive is apparently progressing more slowly than hoped, it is Russia in the Ukraine war got on the defensive. In addition, drone attacks in Moscow are causing a stir in Putin’s empire. The Kremlin’s power apparatus responds with resolute toughness in its own country and leads increasing arrests – also of prominent speakers – through. A journalist now dared to confront Putin.
Putin’s repression: Journalist asks about arrests – President speaks of “rules” and “attitude”
The Russian President Wladimir Putin has defended the increasing repression against critical voices in the country and explained it as the “armed conflict” against Ukraine. When asked by a journalist about the arrest of two government critics at a press conference on Saturday (July 29), Putin said literally: “The year is 2023 and the Russian Federation is involved in an armed conflict with a neighbor. And I think we have to have a certain attitude towards the people who are harming us domestically.”
Putin added: “We have to keep in mind that in order for us to be successful, even in a conflict area, everyone has to follow certain rules.”
Russia Repression: Critics Arrested – Is That “Normal”? Putin pretends to be clueless
Putin made his statements in response to a question from a journalist from the Russian newspaper Kommersantwhether he would like to comment on the arrests of the political scientist Boris Kagarlizky and the theater director Yevgenia Berkowitsch in recent weeks. The journalist had asked if it was “normal” that the two were arrested because of “the words they said or wrote”.
Putin responded that he was hearing their names “for the first time” and “don’t really understand what they did or what was done to them.” However, he wanted to give his “general opinion on the problem”.
Kagarlizky – who has spoken out against the Russian offensive in Ukraine in the past – was arrested on Wednesday on charges of publicly inciting “terrorism”. Berkovich was arrested in May. She is accused of “justifying” terrorism over a play she directed in 2020, in which she told the story of Russian women recruited online to marry Islamists in Syria.
Arrests in Russia: Criticism of Ukraine war forbidden
Also last week, nationalist blogger and former separatist leader Igor Girkin was arrested for “extremism” after he criticized Putin.
Since the beginning of the offensive by Russian soldiers in Ukraine and the passage of laws banning any critical expression, several independent Russian media outlets have had to shut down or relocate outside the country. Many opposition figures went into exile or were arrested, and in thousands of cases fines or long prison sentences were imposed on activists, intellectuals, but also ordinary citizens.
Contrary to reports from Kiev and the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin has also rejected Ukrainian advances at the front. “No, there are no major changes,” Putin told journalists in the Russian Baltic Sea metropolis of St. Petersburg on Saturday evening. “Of course, the enemy was stopped everywhere and pushed back.” Around 17 months after the start of the Russian war of aggression, the Ukrainian military recently reported the liberation of the village of Staromajorske in the south-east of the country. There should also be advances at Bachmut in the east.
Putin also stated that he was planning a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for next Wednesday. Until recently, Turkey had advocated the continuation of an agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain, which Russia finally allowed to expire almost two weeks ago amid international protests. (rjs/afp/dpa)
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