In those intervening years, President Vladimir Putin’s Russia evolved from a country that tolerated some dissent to one that ruthlessly suppresses it. While there were isolated cases in the 1990s under President Boris Yeltsin, Mr. Orlov said major crackdowns began slowly after Mr. Putin came to power in 2000. Many were arrested, and over a dozen received up to four years in prison after those protests. Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 from Ukraine created a surge of patriotism and boosted Mr. Putin’s popularity, emboldening the Kremlin. With the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia enacted repressive new laws that stifled any anti-war protests and criticism of the military.

Source: The Hindu March 07, 2024 18:05 UTC