"We will kill you": How Russia silenced its anti-war movement

What began as a robust protest movement in Russia, with thousands of activists taking part in protests or handing out antiwar literature, has now faded. The last major antiwar rally was on March 13, and the streets have been mostly quiet since. Small protests broke out and around 200 protesters were detained in several cities on Sunday after revelations emerged about potential war crimes in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, according to the OVD-Info, an independent rights group…

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Net Freedoms Project has also tracked more than 200 cases of Russians charged—under an older law—with discrediting Russia’s armed forces, a violation carrying a fine of up to 1 million rubles, equivalent to almost $12,000. Repeat offenders risk landing in prison for up to three years.

One 25-year-old woman said that when she was detained at a Moscow police station after participating in an antiwar demonstration, a police officer said he would put her in a cell and allow other prisoners to rape her. The Journal reviewed a copy of her arrest record…

“He said that we do not deserve to live in this country, that it’s time for us to get out of here, that in Russia nothing will change, Putin will always be in power, we are traitors,” the woman said. She was one of 3,400 people across the country arrested on March 6 for protests, according to the Interior Ministry.

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