A member of the supreme council of the ruling United Russia party and the head of one of Russia’s federal regions is publicly threatening to kill a former prime minister of Russia and the leader of an opposition party.
Even from a purely formal legal standpoint, this involves
a death threat motivated by political hostility;
a publicly stated intention to carry out a terrorist attack. After all, a terrorist act is defined as actions that intimidate the population and create a danger of loss of life for the purpose of destabilizing the work of government bodies or international organizations, or influencing their decision-making, as well as the threat of committing such actions for the same purposes;
a public threat to organize an attempt on the life of a state or public figure, committed for the purpose of ending that person’s state or other political activity, or in revenge for such activity.
- an effectively open, demonstrative, and proud admission of involvement in organizing Nemtsov’s murder;
We tend to say “this is a qualitative change in Russian politics” far too often, but this is exactly such a case.
There is no doubt left that all such statements in recent weeks, and this one in particular, have been authorized by Putin and the Kremlin—and quite possibly initiated by them as well.
After every such episode, we are fed “leaks” claiming that the Kremlin is supposedly unhappy. And the lack of broad coverage of Kadyrov’s frenzy in the main state media is meant to confirm this. A whole swarm of “political analysts” churn out notes about how what is happening is “not in Putin’s interests.”
And how, exactly, is it not in his interests? To the regime’s political bankruptcy there is now increasingly added a sense of economic bankruptcy. International media, politicians, and judges—from Spain to England—are already quite openly accusing Putin of personal corruption and involvement in organizing political murders.
To maintain control of the situation, what Putin needs most is precisely that “intimidation of the population” described in the Criminal Code article on terrorist acts. The part of the population that must be intimidated is the part ready to actively demand change and demand punishment for those responsible. These are the people who go to rallies, who take part in organized political activity—from parties to foundations like the ACF (Anti-Corruption Foundation) or informal movements like Open Russia—they participate in elections and want to speak their minds in debates, and they demand international investigations into things like Nemtsov’s murder (which, incidentally, was the purpose of Kasyanov’s trip to Strasbourg).
This part of the population must be intimidated, and Channel One (Russia’s main state TV channel) is not needed for that. They need to be frightened, pushed out of the country—or at least made to think about emigrating—convinced that opposition activity carries a real risk to life. They must be discouraged from taking to the streets and made to think three times before writing anything online.
Kadyrov, whose involvement in killings leaves no doubt, is the perfect instrument. First they write out an Instagram post for him on a piece of paper, then they leak that “he’s acting on his own.” As I already wrote, Kadyrov himself is perfectly comfortable with this game.
If Putin truly disliked what is happening in Chechnya, some Volodin or other would have called there long ago and said: Vladimir Vladimirovich asks that this not be done again. And that would be the end of it.
As we can see, that is not happening, and apparently the opposite is: well done, keep the pressure on them so they don’t get too comfortable.
Both Russian and international history teach us that this kind of “game” cannot be controlled. What is being granted here is not the right to write brazen posts, but the right to act with impunity. “Everything done by the owner of this Instagram account is done at the king’s command.” A virtual license to kill always becomes a real one.
Let’s stop discussing and condemning Kadyrov. His PR people are just typing letters on a keyboard. We should be discussing the person who ordered this to be written and is watching indulgently, with a wink.
Tags
People