Someone might say that it was not more than a coincidence. On the same day, editors of RBC – one of the best and most professional Russian media holdings – are fired, and State Duma adopts another paranoid “Yarovaya amendment.” However, it is hard to believe in such coincidences.
Add to the mix the victory of Ukrainian singer Jamala at Eurovision, as well as Russians’ reaction to this event, and it would not be any sense at all to speak about coincidences. These events become links in a single chain, which inexorably pulls the neighboring country to a new edition of authoritarianism that by all accounts keeps evolving into totalitarianism.
According to the “Yarovaya amendments” adopted in the first reading (Irina Yarovaya is a notorious deputy of the lower house of the Federal Assembly), firstly, the FSB now can deny any citizen the right to travel abroad for five years by giving them an “official admonition.” According to the FSB order No. 544 of November 2, 2010, this “admonition” can be issued to “an individual in the absence of the criminal liability in order to prevent a crime from being committed.”
Secondly, this amendment introduces criminal liability for “failing to report a crime.” It is now a civil obligation to be a police informant. Non-denunciation comes with a prison sentence if you are at least 14 years old. In Stalin’s time they started with 12, but there are still two readings left to honor the original source.
While the so-called opposition in the State Duma teamed up with the United Russia to talk about the need of fighting terrorism worldwide, the attack against RBC media holding reached its final stage.
The pressure on the holding began after the publication about Putin’s alleged daughter Katerina Tikhonova, about the business owned by his alleged son-in-law Kirill Shamalov, and the active coverage of Panama Papers, which featured a close friend of the president, cellist Sergei Roldugin. The president did not like it, hence the attack has begun.
According to Nikolai Molibog, General Director of RBC, the holding fired Elizaveta Osetinskaya, editor-in-chief of RBC projects; Roman Badanin, editor-in-chief of the web portal; and Maxim Solyus, editor-in-chief of the newspaper.
Galina Timchenko, CEO of Medusa web portal, suggested in an interview with Deutsche Welle that Mikhail Prohorov, the owner of RBC, is under pressure. “RBC is the market leader with a huge audience and influence, the largest independent media of the country. That is why we can suggest that there is a desire to replace the owner, together with the editorial policy.”
And this sets an example for local officials. Whereas in Moscow RBC has been cleansed for forbidden investigations against Putin, in Gorno-Altaysk the police searched the editorial office of the opposition newspaper Listok, owned by Sergei Mikhailov, leader of the local branch of People’s Freedom Party.
According to Mikhailov, the search was performed because of a comment posted on the newspaper’s website, which included a photograph of the governor Berdnikov, presumably with his mistress.
When the most important official in Russia attacks a billionaire’s media holding, why shouldn’t the Chief of Altai punish an opposition newspaper similarly? Punish for a message about his interesting pastime in Germany, far from the Altai. This happened when all the people were marching in unison under the auspices of the president at the “Immortal regiment” rally. A tiny bit of liberty to these scriveners might reveal such things, that a pleasant trip to Germany would seem an easy prank.
It seems that the Russian government began another run over the remnants of the opposition media as the overall situation, both domestically and abroad, deteriorates.
For now, they still manage to write off economic and financial difficulties, attributing them to the machinations of external forces, led by the US Department of State. Of course, there is a secret that becomes more and more apparent – they hope for the victory of Donald Trump in November, as he would drastically reverse US policy towards Russia. However, things may be quite the opposite. As it was the case with Eurovision.
The victory of the Russian singer Lazarev at this competition was an absolute certainty for them. As soon as all that efforts turned out to be futile, they started the excuses about politicization of the jury’s selection and of the rest of the world. The most unpleasant for the Russian propagandists were the voting results from the so-called pro-Russian countries, such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Israel. From the jury in very close Serbia they got only 1 point, whereas even the distant Croatia gave 8. Here is the extent to which all of them are pro-Russian. Basically, they are pro-Russian only in their representation on federal channels by the state propagandists. They also pinned hopes on the Russian diaspora in the Baltic States and even Georgia. These countries did not give many votes for the Russian singer, most of them voted for Ukrainian Jamala.
Of course, the song contest will pass, and people will forget about it in time. However, we must now seriously prepare for the meeting in Kyiv next year. Many Russian singers are listed as persona non grata and prohibited from entry in our country. There is no doubt that Moscow will choose one of them to participate in the future Eurovision. If we deny him the entry, they would raise a great fuss – and letting him in would devalue our own principles and decisions. The issue is very complicated and the decision should be well-founded.
The Russian government is dominated by one, but a very serious phobia. They are plagued by nightmares about a color revolution in Moscow. Certainly, they think it would be possible only with external support. The fevered brains of the Kremlin’s rulers and their retinue produce images of Right Sector threatening the integrity of the Russian state. “Yarovaya amendments” are adopted in order to prevent the bonding of the imaginary “fifth column” with the same imaginary terror fighters from Ukraine. In the case of emergency, they would have the necessary piece of legislation at hand.
And the masses should not be incited by opposition of all sorts and by their stories about the highest official’s family and the mistresses of local officials – to that end, their press should be destroyed. Not as primitively as during the Soviet era, but in a more refined way – by changing the owner and the editorial policy. And that will not stop the Russian authorities. It is not difficult to guess who will be next, because there are not many opposition media left.
According to the letter of the law, everything is legitimate, but in fact it is nothing but a mockery. Thus said Lenin, and Putin adheres to his words. He’s not smart enough to come up with something of his own.
