November 17, 2021

Russia targets activists for exposing Soviet-era crimes

topic:	Freedom of Expression
located:	Russia
editor:	Andrew Getto

This year, the Kremlin is cracking down not only on opposition activists and investigative journalists, but also on those remembering the terror of the Soviet Union. We should look to the past to determine the reason for the authorities’ disdain for those attacking Stalin’s henchmen.

On 11 November, prosecutors asked the Supreme Court to shut down the International Memorial group for allegedly failing to identify itself as a foreign agent in public statements. At this point, only the Kremlin spokesman could deny that such cases are direct orders from the Kremlin. But why has an organisation, famous for educating people about the Stalin-era terror, become a sworn enemy of the modern Russian state?

International Memorial does human rights advocacy work, such as publishing lists of political prisoners; for example, this year, they counted 410 such individuals, even though Vladimir Putin believes there are zero. This activity on its own may send someone into the scope of the authorities, but the Memorial is under scrutiny mostly for its dealings with history.

In the late 1980s, the change that led to the crash of the Soviet Union was catalysed by the published exposure of the regime’s crimes. The biggest one was, of course, the mass murder of millions under Joseph Stalin. The Memorial was at the forefront of this wave, staging mass rallies near the KGB headquarters and constructing monuments for the victims. The authorities of the new Russia supported the movement at first; but under Putin, it began to fall out of favour.

The Kremlin still condemns Stalin when other memorial dates come. It also supposedly opposes military invasions, subversive spy activity abroad and fake news. The paradox is that the Putin regime considers those criticising Stalin its own enemies.

Even though legally they should be public information, the KGB archives are still classified. A historian recently tried to request access to logs of Stalin’s kangaroo courts; the FSB (the KGB’s successor) denied his request, arguing that the documents could “contain information, the distribution of which may cause the ignition of national, racial or religious hatred or animosity.” The agency did not specify who exactly the animosity would be aimed at, but the members of NKVD, the KGB’s predecessor, are the most likely candidates.

With the members of the NKVD long gone, the release of these documents, and the animosity that might ensue, seems irrelevant. The story of Yuri Dmitriev, the head of a Memorial division in northern Russia, might enlighten such a measure. The man, who was involved in burying the remains of victims killed by the NKVD, was then accused of commiting sexual violence against his own adopted daughter and jailed for 13 years. The public was shocked by the cruelty of the charges, while the proof couldn’t stand up to any scrutiny. A local journalist summed up the case perfectly:

“I can’t rule out that while making another list, he could have brushed against big people. He has seen the denunciations. And some of those who used to shoot and imprison are still alive. And their children are possibly in big offices. Someone didn’t want the stories of their fathers and grandfathers to surface.”

Some of the key people of the Russian establishment have served in the KGB: mighty oligarchs Igor Sechin and Sergei Chemezov, and, most famously, Vladimir Putin. Chances are they are not big fans of Stalin himself, but they certainly grew up identifying themselves as descendants of the NKVD. And the most important tenet of their version of Russia is that a man of power can never be wrong - even those who murdered millions of innocent people almost a century ago.

Image by: Peggy_Marco

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