OVD-Info Dissident Digest #67 21 August‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

#67

21/08/2024

EXPLAINING THE STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN RUSSIA

Hello and welcome back to the Digest.

Today we are discussing pressure against relatives and a case that represents Russia’s uncivil society.

As always, feel free to reach out to Dan.storyev@ovdinfo.org with questions or concerns.

In solidarity,
Dan Storyev

Trigger warning:
This is a newsletter about Russian repressions. Sometimes it will be hard to read.

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Family values and uncivil society

The Kremlin loves to claim ownership of traditional values. The Kremlin reaches into schools, marriages, and everyday life, supposedly to “protect family values”. And family is the cornerstone of the Kremlin’s traditionalist propaganda. It is thus darkly ironic that Moscow’s security services are increasingly going after families in their repressive campaign.

In our yet-to-be-translated report we outline the numbers and go deeper into personal stories. I will give you an abridged version here. Make sure to read the report in full once it is translated in a couple of weeks.

First, the numbers. We know of at least 444 cases of pressure on relatives of people the Kremlin is targeting.

Cases of pressure on relatives by year

OVD-Info data by 31/12/23

In more than half of these cases — 241 — the pressure is exerted on parents.

The spheres of activity the Kremlin targets have varied over time—their targeting of relatives is no different. Here we show the type of activity that the persecuted person was engaged in when the Kremlin targeted their relative. It's probably no surprise that the relatives of those who criticize the war make up more than half of persecuted relatives over the past two years.

Targeted groups by year

OVD-Info data by 31/12/23

In terms of locations, Moscow and the Moscow region came out “on top” with 109 total cases. Annexed Crimea is second with 43 cases, and Chechnya is a close third with at least 34 cases. Interestingly, Chechnya was a pioneer in pressuring relatives. Kadyrov’s ruthless authorities went after families to pressure anti-regime activists, known queer people, and more. These practices then spread throughout Russia in a kind of a Cesairean “imperial boomerang”.

But what exactly does “pressure” entail? Raids and visits to relatives’ homes and threatening phone calls are the most common. Violence, attacks on property, or detentions are also possible — even the opening of a criminal case. Sometimes, authorities might harass a workplace or an education institution just to attack the target’s relatives.

Take the case of the Nazaruk family. Roman, whose family hails from Ukraine, married Anastasiya in the early 2010s. In 2017 the couple moved to Crimea where they began raising a child. When the full-scale war began the two spoke out against it — on their social media, in public, and Roman even staged a one-man protest in Crimea’s main city of Sevastopol. After facing backlash from their pro-war relatives the couple decided to leave the country along with their son. Their parents responded with: “you’re traitors for running from the motherland”. But the motherland didn’t hear their pro-war talking points — the Nazaruk’s family on all sides is now regularly visited by security services, who pressure their parents and even grandparents.

Roman and Anastasiya Nazaruk / Photo: courtesy of Nazaruk family

For instance, Roman’s mother was threatened with being stripped of her Russian citizenship, which she acquired after leaving Ukraine decades ago — if her daughter-in-law didn’t stop her anti-war “agitation”. The couple made their way to San Francisco, through the southern border. Anastasia keeps attending anti-war rallies in the US and shares them on social media.

Or take the Kuku family. Emir-Usein and his wife Meriem are Crimean Tatars — a minority that the various states taking control of Crimea over its history seem eager to oppress. Putin is no exception — with the annexation, Crimean Tatars have became a target for a massive Islamophobic and racist campaign of terror. I covered it in one of the first issues of the Digest and my colleague Inna wrote about it in her recent op-ed. Emir-Usein was arrested and sentenced to 12 years for providing legal aid to the Crimean Tatar community — his family is continuously harassed.

Emir-Usein and Meriem Kuku / Photo: courtesy of Kuku family

Not only was the family’s house invaded and turned upside down, but they also beat Emir-Usein. The authorities also tried to take the couple’s children into state custody, and a plainclothes officer approached the couple’s son, Bekir, at school just to say “your dad will be in prison for a long time, 10-12 years” to the 9-year-old.

There are, sadly, many more stories like this — as the repressive machine is gaining steam, the Kremlin is leaving no stone unturned.

Alisa Gorshenina is an artist from Nizhny Tagil, a city just east of the Ural Mountains in Russia. In her work, she touches on the theme of Ural mythology and explores local identity. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the theme of war has appeared in all of her pieces — something that nationalist, pro-war Russian activists (referred to as «Z-activists» in Russian) have not ignored.

READ AN ARTICLE

Dmitry Grinchiy

I often talk of the “uncivil society” that the Kremlin has managed to create — active and enthusiastic supporters of the war, who are either directly on the state’s payroll or feel like they ought to be. Dmitry Grinchiy, an 87-year-old retired Muscovite, came face to face with this “uncivil society” on 9 August.

Grinchiy was riding in a bus in Moscow. As it was passing the memorial to the notorious Wagner private military company, Grinchiy allegedly muttered some sort of anti-war tinted criticism of the group. Grinchiy was alone — and he was immediately attacked by two big men, a father and a son.

Screenshot from the video of the attack / Video: Natalia Demina

The men yelled at the retiree, “Get out, bitch,”, and proceeded to twist his arm. Grinchiy later told reporters that he was physically shaken up for days after the altercation — his back was hurting, so were his kidneys. Waving away a woman who tried to intervene, the two men got the driver to stop next to the infamous Lubyanka secret police headquarters, where they handed Grinchiy off to the police.

In a twist of fate, Grinchiy’s entire family had already been victimized by the Kremlin. His father was falsely convicted and shot during Stalin’s purges in 1938. He recalls how he had to hide from the authorities together with his mother — and he didn’t even know his real surname until he was 15.

Dmitry Grinchiy holding a photograph of his parents / Screenshot: GULAG History Museum

While this story could be considered damning evidence of the “fascistization” of Russia, in reality, we saw an outpouring of support for Grinchiy. We were the first to report on the case and we received tons of messages asking for a donation link, or another way to support the retiree. Our affiliate lawyer helped him free of charge. And also noteworthy, criminal charges against Grinchiy were never filed. Instead, police initiated charges against the two thugs who attacked him. Recently, Russians from all over the country raised enough money to buy Grinchiy a new laptop.