The Russian Totalitarianism. Freedom here and now. Dmitrii Shusharin

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СКАЧАТЬ that terrorism is one of the destabilizing factors of the crisis is highly inaccurate. Major acts of terrorism coincide with the stages of the formation of Putin’s political system formation. The authorities, which have demonstrated their purposefulness and ability to complex multi-stage combinations in the Yukos affair, in the cancellation of the gubernatorial elections and party-parliamentary reform, in carrying out the policy of destabilization in neighboring states, when using force against them, have not done anything to protect peaceful citizens from terror. Moreover, sometimes these citizens do not know who is causing them greater harm – terrorists or anti-terrorist actions. Such perplexity is felt by many residents of Chechnya, Ingushetia, other North Caucasian republics, victims of “Nord-Ost” and Beslan.

      And the question arises whether the government cannot suppress terrorism or does not want to do it. In any case, one must admit that the main difference between the present Russian state and the model that it pretends to conform to is that terrorism in modern Russia is part of the political system, and not directed against it. It is systemic, not anti-systemic.

      There is an extreme point of view, which is concisely formulated in the title of the well-known book “The FSB is blowing up Russia.” This, of course, is one of the equally plausible versions, indirectly confirmed by the absolute mortality of those who were related to this issue. And also by the prohibitory injunction on this book in Russia as extremist. It is appropriate to recall that the symbiosis of terrorism and security services has a tradition in Russia, traced back to at least to the time of Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will) movement. The eventual merger of terrorists and security forces occurred under totalitarian Cheka/KGB and GRU. But the very existence of such a version is also in a certain sense useful to the authorities. Their opponents and denunciators can’t recognize, that any demonization of the current government plays into its hands and adds more intimidating ammunition to it.

      I do not claim that terrorist attacks are pleasant to them, but it is beyond doubt that the government benefits from them. The material accumulated since the nineties, allows us to draw a conclusion that terrorism is the most important means of legitimizing power. The post-Beslan reforms had nothing to do with the fight against terrorism, but the terrorist attack created the necessary information background. The authorities take full advantage from everything that increases fear in society; fear in general, any kind, regardless of its source.

      The final session of the State Duma in the summer of 2016 was marked by the adoption of laws, in which the fear of terrorism is manifestly used to strengthen the repressive component of the regime. The case in point is “the antiterrorist draft of legislation”, introduced by representative Irina Yarovaya and Senator Viktor Ozerov. It involves dozens of Russian laws, bringing changes that will have the most serious impact on Russian population.

      As of July 20, 2016 non-reporting of a crime became a criminal offense. Under the threat of imprisonment for up to one year, people will have to report to the authorities the suspected preparation of a terrorist attack, armed insurrection and some other kinds of offences against the law, the list has more than a dozen entries.

      Appeals to terrorism and its justification on the Internet were equated with similar statements made in the mass media. Responsibility for such statements has become tougher: citizens will be held responsible according to the same norms as the media. The maximum penalty is seven years of imprisonment.

      Now the mobile communication providers are required to store all call records and any messages exchanged by users within six months. Within three years they must store meta-data, that is, not the very content of conversations and correspondence, but information that such a conversation or such an exchange of SMS messages took place on such and such a date at such and such an hour. This also applies to “organizers of the dissemination of information on the Internet”.

      Another important amendment is applied to “the organizers of the dissemination of information”: if an Internet service – an instant messenger, a social network, a mail client or just a website – supports encryption of data, the providers are under the obligation to help the FSB decrypt any message that the security forces need. A penalty is imposed for refusal; for legal entities it is from 800 thousand to one million rubles.

      The document gives an extremely broad definition of “missionary activity”, which only registered organizations and groups allowed to be engaged. In this respect, any missionary activity outside the specially designated premises is prohibited. Violations are subject to a fine of one million rubles. The law began to be applied immediately to non-Orthodox Christians, who are fined for sharing the Bible in private apartments. There is no freedom of conscience in Russia anymore24.

      The “antiterrorism package” contains amendments that increase the punishment for what is called extremism. Fines and terms of imprisonment are raised. In some cases, the changes are very significant. For example, the funding of extremist activities (282.3 CC), the maximum prison term is raised from three to eight years.

      A new item in the Criminal Code article on mass disorders reads that “inducement, recruitment or other involvement in terrorist organization” is punishable by imprisonment of five to ten years.

      For some crimes in Russia the age of 14 has been established for criminal responsibility. “Yarovaya package” increases the list of such crimes to 32 (before it was 22). Among other things, it includes participation in terrorist communities and in riots, as well as failure to report a crime.

      A new article on international terrorism is added to the Criminal Code. Committing or threatening to commit acts of terrorism outside of Russia, in which Russian citizens were killed or injured is now liable to prosecution. This article imposes life imprisonment as a maximum punishment.

      Now the Russian Post and private postal companies should check the parcels for anything illegal, for example, weapons, drugs or money. Responsibility for this is entrusted to the postal operators. In Russia, the correspondence privacy is eliminated.

      Two unconstitutional amendments failed to pass. Before the second reading, the deputies rejected the idea of stripping the citizenship of people who committed terrorist acts or extremist crimes, as well as those who cooperate with international organizations. In the first version of the draft law, it was proposed to ban the exit from Russia to people who received a warning from the FSB or the prosecutor’s office about the inadmissibility of committing illegal actions, which is a motion out of court. As a result, the parliamentarians decided to abandon this rule altogether25.

      This last detail is very revealing. If deprivation of citizenship can hardly be considered a serious punishment, the ban on going abroad would affect the way of life of a significant number of government critics. It is not by chance that this proposal was given much attention in social networks, where it was regarded as a blow to the “most advanced part of society”. It was also a distraction from the fact that these amendments were going to strike the whole IT industry, leading to a significant increase in prices for cellular and other types of communications26. We are dealing here not only with expanding the repressive powers of the authorities, but also with the damaging impact on social cohesion, on further atomization of society’s everyday life. This development creates obstacles to joint social activities and encumbers ordinary communications between individuals. Clearly obvious that the authorities, which have mastered modern IT technologies, obstruct their further advancement. However, it is more accurate to speak not of slowing down the development of information technologies, but of hindering their social spread and utilization. The law has its own beneficiaries – the producers СКАЧАТЬ