Comment by 5e92cb50239222b
5 years ago
It's a bad wording on my part. I haven't been sleeping much lately. What I tried to say is my Russian friends are shocked about how little the population is willing to do then their Führer is killing their (literally) brothers, pushing the country towards complete isolation and (possibly) WW3.
Oh, that’s an interesting question too though. I’ve wondered if protesting would be a frightening prospect for Russians. Do you think that’s possible? Here in Canada I’d say protesting has been relatively safe for generations. In Russia, dissent has been punished many times over. Should they be protesting more right now, or are there real personal risks attached? I honestly don’t know, but I try not to judge too much.
No, it's definitely not safe. People get picked off the streets (3-4 riot cops against each one), brutally beaten (not all, but many), and thrown in jail for a few hours to a few days. Some lose their jobs after that.
Some even lose their jobs for posting anti-war comments on the internet:
https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2022/03/01/iavnoe-neuvazhen...
Here's another example — an 80 year old lady was picked off the street and thrown in jail with the rest of them. Twice:
https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2022/02/27/v-avtozake-kolle...
What's ironic here is she was born in besieged Stalingrad in 1942. Think about it: they've jailed a siege survivor from the Great Patriotic War which they are so proud of for standing peacefully at an anti-war protest.
You can look up the latest arrest figures on https://ovdinfo.org. It's not official info, but is the best we have.
A new law is currently being fast-tracked through Duma which will allow the state to throw people in prison for up to 20 years for literally any anti-war activity, including peaceful protests.
The country is very close to what it was like in Stalin times, back in 1930s.