RUSSIA – Human rights in Russia have severely deteriorated since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, culminating in a systematic crackdown on civil society, a UN report has found. The investigation details police brutality, widespread repression of independent media and persistent attempts to silence Kremlin critics using punitive new laws. Mariana Katzarova, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Russia, was denied entry into the country and compiled the report by speaking to political groups, activists and lawyers. Human rights abuses in Russia have been well documented during the Vladimir Putin era, but the latest UN report pays particular attention to how the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has accelerated what it says was previously a “steady decline It details how laws passed in recent years targeting the spread of so-called fake news, and individuals or organisations deemed to have received foreign support, have sought to “muzzle” any opposition, both physically and online.

Among the cases the report highlights is that of Artyom Kamardin, who was jailed for seven years for reading an anti-war poem in public – an act authorities deemed to be “inciting hatred It’s seven years for reading an anti war-poem, or saying a prayer by a priest which was against the war, or producing a play perceived to be anti-war. Two women are still in prison for that in Russia. She praised those who continue to organise despite threats and said she believes opposition to the war is quietly widespread. As in any totalitarian, authoritarian state, people don’t want to get in trouble – it doesn’t mean that they are supportive of some madness, an aggressive war against their neighbour,” she added.

The report accuses the government of seeking to propagate its views on the Ukraine conflict among children via the introduction of mandatory school lessons, officially labelled as “important conversations children refusing to attend such classes and their parents are subject to pressure and harassment,” it adds. The report highlights the case of a fifth-grader from Moscow who was interrogated by police after skipping the class, before their mother was charged with “failing to fulfil parental duties. (BBC)…[+]