Topline
Russia on Wednesday detained prominent opposition politician Ilya Yashin—one of the last opposition activists remaining in Russia—for two months for allegedly spreading false information about Russia’s military, one of thousands of Russian citizens who have been punished by the Kremlin for criticizing the war, including Yashin’s colleague Vladimir Kara-Murza.
Opposition member Ilya Yashin attends court hearings in Moscow.
Key Facts
Russia charged Yashin—who was already in jail since June for allegedly disobeying the police, but was set to be released this week—on Tuesday and searched his home, according to Yashin’s lawyer Vadim Prokhorov.
On Wednesday, a Moscow court ordered Yashin—a vocal critic of the Kremlin—to be detained until September 12 for allegedly sharing “fake information” about the Russian army, a charge for which he could face up to 15 years in prison.
Yashin—who previously led the People’s Freedom Party, one of the first opposition parties created in the last years of the Soviet Union and was the head of Moscow's Krasnoselsky district council from 2017 to 2021—shouted “Russia will be free,” after the judge announced his detainment, according to Reuters.
His arrest comes two months after Russia arrested Kara-Murza—who has survived two suspected poisonings—after CNN aired an interview with Kara-Murza in which he called the Kremlin a “regime of murderers.”
Chief Critic
Amnesty International on Wednesday called on Russia to release Yashin, saying the “ugly repression of rights in Russia continues,” adding the “shameful criminalization of freedom of expression must stop.”
Big Number
16,351. That’s how many people Russia has detained for sharing anti-war sentiments since the country began its invasion of Ukraine, according to independent Russian human rights organization OVD-Info.
Key Background
A month after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, the country passed legislation making it illegal to spread “false news” about the Russian military, imposing sentences of up to 15 years in prison for those who violate the law. The new legislation came at the same time as Russia worked to clamp down on independent media outlets, blocking major publications such as the BBC and Voice of America.
Tangent
Russia has a long history of targeting those who speak out against the Kremlin: Kara-Murza, Alexei Navalny—a Russian opposition leader who was also allegedly poisoned in 2020, and was detained in 2021—and several other prominent critics of Russia have been poisoned over the last 20 years. An investigation from news site Bellingcat, the Insider and Der Spiegel found that operatives of Russia’s Federal Security Service poison squad tracked both Kara-Murza and Navalny just before the two fell ill from suspected poisonings several years apart. The Russian government has refused to investigate the events, but has denied any involvement. Navalny was sentenced to nine years in a maximum security jail in March after Russia found the activist guilty of fraud, charges Navalny says are politically motivated. Dmitry Muratov, meanwhile, the editor-in-chief of an independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, who won a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for coverage of the Russian government, was attacked with red paint on a train from Moscow in April, an attack the U.S. concluded was planned by Russian intelligence.
Further Details
Russian opposition politician kept in prison under 'fake information' investigation (Reuters)
