Russian officials spent little time identifying enemies after the assassination of military blogger Maxim Fomin, better known as Vladlen Tatarsky, in a cafe in St. Petersburg last Sunday.
“The network of feminist organizations in our country is a breeding ground for extremist activities,” said MP Oleg Matveychev of the ruling United Russia party, who announced the adoption of a bill recognizing feminism as an “extremist ideology.”
The case of Darya Trepova, who is under investigation for terrorist acts in connection with her alleged involvement in the bombing, has sparked a wave of hostility against activists led by politicians and state media.
Feminist activists are reporting an increase in attacks and threats, personal details are being released online, while nationalists are looking for associates of Ms. Trepova, who was reportedly an anti-war radical.
Members of feminist groups such as the popular Feminist Anti-War Resistance (Far) network fear the ban.
“Even by the standards of the regime, a lot of absurd proposals have been made lately,” said Maria, a Russian human rights activist with ties to the network of imprisoned dissident Alexei Navalny, who only gave her first name.
“I am more than sure that sooner or later they will ban Far and similar groups of feminist activists,” she added.
Feminist activists have previously stated that chauvinist sentiment in the Russian state gave them more room to dissent and oppose the war, as they were treated less seriously while other activist groups were subject to repression.
That tolerance no longer exists, according to a Far activist who says 16 feminist activists are now on trial for anti-war crimes, such as discrediting the military, committed shortly after the invasion of Ukraine.
Activists such as Alexander Skochilenko, who was imprisoned for posting anti-war slogans on supermarket tags, were reportedly tortured in prison.
Laws against feminism, though impractical, can have far-reaching consequences, says lawyer Anastasia Burakova.
“The prosecutor or the court can recognize the organization as ‘extremist’,” she says. “Law enforcement can then use formal status… as an excuse to step up repression against other opposition groups.”
The regime can use ostensibly independent experts to establish “official links between arbitrary individuals they wish to prosecute” and certain organizations.
Russian intelligence agencies will be forced to provide results after the security breach in St. Petersburg, according to political scientist Antonin Barbashin, head of the online newspaper. Puzzle.
“There are people who are responsible for this,” he said. I. “They must produce something useful.”
According to Barbashin, feminist groups have become the regime’s “natural enemy” as they have become rallying points for anti-war sentiment and also profess liberal values that are at odds with the Kremlin’s traditional conservative ideology.
In his opinion, the regime is likely to see the explosions as an opportunity to increase its influence on society.
“Based on past experience, they will use it as an excuse to deal with internal enemies,” says Barbashin.
Analysts believe that the pressure on dissidents will increase as the number of arrests and prosecutions increases. More than 500 activists have been charged with war crimes, according to the Russian human rights organization OVD-Info.
The targets of the coming offensive are not limited to feminists. Russian officials also blamed the imprisoned dissident Navalny’s network for the blast.
The network is so concerned that it released a memo this week asking employees to support asylum claims if they want to flee the country because of the “additional risk of being labeled terrorists.”
Many of the activists who resisted during the war do not want to give up now. But there is no illusion that they will face an increasingly hostile environment.
Source: I News
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