DoomsdaysCWAug 5, 2025

Don't give #Trump any ideas, #Putti!

#RussianParliament approves a bill punishing online searches for information deemed ‘#extremist’

Updated 6:47 AM EDT, July 25, 2025

MOSCOW (AP) — "The Russian parliament’s upper house on Friday quickly approved a bill that punishes #OnlineSearches for information officially branded 'extremist,' the latest in a series of moves by authorities to tighten control of the internet.

The legislation makes what it describes as 'deliberately searching for and accessing extremist materials' online punishable by a fine of up to the equivalent of $64.

"The bill, which was endorsed by the lower house earlier this week, is now set to be signed into law by President Vladimir #Putin.

The official definition of extremist activity is extremely broad and includes opposition groups like the #AntiCorruptionFoundation, created by the late opposition leader #AlexeiNavalny, and the 'international #LGBT movement.'

"It’s not clear how authorities will track down violators.

"Officials and lawmakers said ordinary internet users won’t be affected and only those who methodically seek outlawed content will be targeted. They didn’t explain how authorities would differentiate between them.

"Russians widely use #VPN services for access to #BannedContent, but authorities have sought to tighten restrictions and close the loopholes. The state communications watchdog has increasingly used technology to analyze traffic and block specific VPN protocols.

"Russian authorities have ramped up their multipronged #crackdown on dissent after sending troops into #Ukraine in February 2022.

"Since then, online #censorship and prosecutions for social media posts and comments have soared.

"Multiple independent news outlets and rights groups have been shut down, labeled as 'foreign agents' or outlawed as 'undesirable.' Hundreds of #activists and critics of the #Kremlin have faced criminal charges."

#SilencingDissent #Russia #RussiaPol #RussiaFirst #SilencingJournalism #Authoritarianism #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism

EmilyShawSep 12, 2023

Imprisoned Russian Daniel Kholodny is encouraging supporters to send cards and letters to anti-corruption activists in Russian jails. Follow the link below to find out how.

“Many of you must feel jaded about those endless posts by public figures asking you to write to political prisoners. But it really is terribly important. Many of us were on the “front line” of a political struggle — but now, in prison, we find ourselves in single combat with the walls. In this single combat, you can be the “doping drug” that keeps us strong by reminding us that we’re not alone.”

#meduza #danielkholodny #anticorruptionfoundation #navalny

https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/09/10/why-write-to-prisoners

Why write to prisoners? Alexey Navalny’s co-defendant Daniel Kholodny explains (writing from a penal colony) why letters and postcards are so important to political prisoners in Russia — Meduza

Exactly one year ago, on September 10, 2022, Meduza published a detailed Russian-language instruction on how to send a letter to someone in a Russian prison. Our reason for writing it was the draconian sentence issued, just then, to the Russian journalist Ivan Safronov, prosecuted for treason by the FSB (Russia’s Federal Security Service) and sentenced to 22 years, amidst criticism of the charges and the severity of the court’s decision. At the time, Meduza wrote about 236 Russians prosecuted on political grounds, including antiwar speech. Today, Russia has close to 600 political prisoners (as estimated by the Russian NGO Memorial). One of them is Daniel Kholodny, the former technical director of Alexey Navalny’s YouTube channel Navalny Live, sentenced to eight years in August, in an expressly political case in which both he and Alexey Navalny figured as defendants. In a recent letter from the penal colony, Kholodny explains why letters and postcards from the outside matter so much in the life of a political inmate.

Meduza