Putin steps up pressure on the free press after key poll victory
RUSSIA’S intelligence services have stepped up their war on free media, carrying out a series of operations designed to intimidate journalists in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s controversial referendum victory last week.
In an unprecedented case for postSoviet Russia, Ivan Safronov, a prominent defence reporter, was seized outside his home on Tuesday morning by secret service agents and arrested on suspicion of treason. Citing the secret nature of the case, the investigators have not published any evidence to back up their claims. The reporter faces up to 20 years in prison.
Last week’s overwhelming approval of constitutional amendments allowing Mr Putin to remain in office as Russian president at least until 2036 was hailed by the Kremlin as a “triumph”.
But results at polling stations that were monitored by independent observers indicated something resembling a split vote. That was an apparent cue for Russia’s FSB secret service to take action. “Whenever the Kremlin gets existential jitters, that’s the moment when the FSB tends to step in,” Mark Galeotti, an honorary professor at UCL SSEES and an expert on secret services, told The Sunday Telegraph.
In the space of a few days, a journalist in Russia’s north-west last Monday was found guilty of “justifying terrorism” in a column and fined £5,000, while on Wednesday, police raided homes of at least five opposition activists and one independent newsroom.
The FSB has not produced any evidence to back up its accusations that Mr Safronov has been spying, but his defence attorney said he had been under surveillance for months.
“It’s impossible to say whether he was a random victim, but the way it was done – publicly, with support of [Kremlin spokesman Dmitry] Peskov – it was designed to send a message to all journalists,” Andrei Soldatov, a journalist and co-author of The Compatriots: The Brutal and Chaotic History of Russian Exiles, Émigrés and Agents Abroad, told The Sunday Telegraph.
Going after a random target would serve the FSB’s purpose of spreading fear, says Mr Galeotti: “It’s about reassuring people at the top, but also providing a shock for the people below.”