Operation authoritarian dictatorship
President Putin’s “anti-extremism campaign”
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
At the end of April 2021, the Moscow state prosecution petitioned for Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation and its regional offices to be officially declared “extremist organisations” and for them to be prohibited. The petition is based on the anti-extremism law of 2002. The vague concept of extremism makes it easier to abuse the law. It serves as a basis for preventing citizens from exerting their human and civic rights. The measures taken against Navalny’s organisations are part of the intensified suppression of the opposition. At the end of May, a new law was passed. Now, anyone can have their passive right to vote withdrawn if they have been declared an “extremist” in the past. The ultimate aim here is the suppression of society. Putin’s presidential regime is on the threshold of becoming a dictatorship.
(Osteuropa 3/2021, pp. 9–27)