In the world today many see Russia with a critical lense which prompts the question - Is Russia receding into a communist nation like its predecessors? The media, government actions, scandals, and the treatment of citizens have caused a call for an investigation. Recent articles have taken a leap of curiosity into Russia to find the truth. History has shown that dictatorships, like Russia with Putin, are harmful to the citizens and Putin needs to be stopped.
Putin's control of Russia is widely known because of his crackdown on the media and censorship. Russia has strict media censorship in order to direct viewing in Russia in efforts to keep the “bad” out of Russia. Russia has put in motion various laws through legislation allowing them to prosecute independent voices on social media. As early as November of 2017, the government announced that they were capable of censoring the content of “undesirable” content from certain organizations that weren’t in favor of Russia or were causing issues. In April the court located in Moscow went as far as asking a popular app “Telegram” for access to their user’s private key addresses further allowing them to investigate those of interest. The reason they chose this app was that it had 10 million of Russia’s population involved in it (The Guardian). The people affected by this shows how Russia is compelled to regulate the public by any means no matter the general public opinion on the matter.
The scandals knocking at Putin’s door are beginning to amount to more than just a few. Being put in a prime minister position by president Boris Yeltsin in 1999, Putin had already run into a scandal or two being the deputy mayor not too long before. The Marina Salye Report in 1993, which put forth evidence of a scheme under Putin that involved millions of dollars worth in raw materials shipped out to an unknown source in exchange for a shipment of food that didn’t follow through. After that incident, its existence has been wiped from most websites, although some still carry evidence of it occurring. Since then, various claims such as The 2000 Election that involved a close battle resulting in Putin’s first win by just a hair. But Moscow Times reported that it had found information claiming that the votes used in the election were falsified and voters registrations tracked down to more than a half dozen regions. Another instance includes The Beslan School Attack Report (2006), involving a gunman taking 1,000 pupils, staff and parents hostage in the gym of a school in Beslan. Russian militants rushed to the gym to try and put out a fire, but 334 lives were still lost. An independent investigation pointed to the militants’ grenade being the source of the fire. The Russian General’s office refused to listen to the claims, including eyewitness accounts pointing out the same things, Gazprom (2008 and 2014) which was a report from Boris Nemtsov explaining the waste issue of the state-controlled natural-gas giant called Gazprom. The article was written to expose the corruption in the “project” but resulted in both Boris and Vladimir Milov to be mysteriously assassinated. Not to mention their correlation with being a well-identified enemy of Putin’s. Another claim was the MH17 (2014-present) which involved an international airline traveling to Malaysia when it was shot down by an MH17 missile produced in Russia. There has been video evidence released showing the missile truck called a “Buk,” also produced in Russia traveling to a secure unknown location within range of the flight path of “coincidentally.” On top of that, there was a leaked audio clip of Russian communication saying “It crossed the line, it crossed the line. You brought it on a truck yes?” These are a few of the 21 total big scandals claims on record (Wesolowsky). This relates to the power Putin holds on his country so much as a squeak of opinion rivaling the issue is shut down and disposed of.
Russia is making an effort to smooth over public relations. Putin has done his share of trying to appease the public while balancing the country’s interests. In Putin’s major talking points, he included the ever lingering waste issue which he promised would be resolved. The waste has gotten uncontrollable and is approaching urban areas since the waste management centers have been unattended to for quite some time now (Bershidsky). Putin also has been working on expanding the relationship with China and spending more money on further improvements in Russian technology. On that note, Russia’s response to nuclear threats from the U.S was “Russia will be ready to retaliate in the event of any perceived increase in the U.S. military threat.” While being on “good” terms with china, Ukraine, Russias “Biggest” problem in Russia’s relations with the west, didn’t get any sort of mention in Putin’s reform plans (Gershkovich). This ties in with Russias blank statements to claim the well being of its citizens although there is some controversy lingering among it.
Russia’s internal issues are boiling over to the people. Recent mass protests have broken out all over Russia. On such a scale not seen since 2011-12. Putin won his third consecutive presidential term by what many claim to be fraudulent means. Recent video leaks have also surfaced showing a prisoner being beaten by penitentiary staff in Yaroslavl. Protestors in peaceful protest nationwide have been detained by police. The courts involved in these detainments have repeatedly sentenced the accused protestors to fines and short-term arrests for “violating” restrictive regulations when participating in demonstrations. This is a violation of freedom of assembly resulting in further outrage made clear by those affected by it. People aren’t the only ones affected by this. Organizations are taking a blow to their group structures too. They are being fined a hefty amount of money for being deemed an “undesirable organization” which once labeled as such can be treated as need be. ( Human Rights Watch)
Although Russia is claimed to be a republic the signs of a hidden monster (dictatorship) are known to the world and Russian people.”Dictators, in general, learn right from the start that in order to maintain the power they gain, They must seek to control info.”(Eckel) Mainly by centralizing all mainstream & have positive news angled at them but not the bad news which is directed away from them. Putin has clearly shown his dominance when it comes to internet censorship through his means or following through with enforcing punishment on those that don’t fall within the strict requirements on media/internet publishing. Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated after she wrote an article exposing the corruption in the Russias army on Putin’s birthday which was obviously denied by Putin. He’s also shown absolute authority when it comes to scandals with all evidence pointing at him even though he manages to somehow sneak through the cracks covering his tracks and falling on the “false allegations” crutch.
Corruption is also a cause for concern in Russia as Putin has shown his true colors when dealing with situations. So much so that the OCCRP( Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) Rewarded Putin out of all other potentially corrupt assets number one for “doing the most to promote criminal activity”.(OCCRP) This so-called promotion of criminal activity has allowed organized crime to insert itself in the Crimea and Donbas region of eastern Ukraine without any restriction or opposition. The time Putin is spending in the office also calls for some review as he seems to never lose an election ever since he was deemed the head of Russia. The Moscow times clearly pointed out the false vote tally caused by Putin’s close match up in the election.
Putin is not trusted by his own country let alone the world. As a matter of fact, there was a state-run poll asking Russias citizens how much faith they had in their leader. Come to find out that only 32% of Russian citizens trust Putin to do the right thing.(Human Rights Watch) The poll was forced to revise its findings and re-do the results. Which was no surprise considering anything unfavorable to Putin is silenced.
In conclusion, there have been multiple sources from various points in Russia. Some being its citizens while other being organizations determined to speak their peace. The one thing they have in common is that Putin’s Russia needs to be stopped.