Dear Friends,

This morning I read that the Kremlin has submitted a bill to the Duma which seeks to widen the legal parameters of treason to strengthen its ability to prosecute those who cooperate with international rights groups.  The article was written by David Nowak on Associated Press here.  It is worth reading.

For me, this bill is yet another attempt to rule behind closed doors and hamper the ability of international NGO's to function in Russia and expose the endemic abuses perpetrated by the Kremlin.  Laws which ease the ability of the state to prosecute those who cooperate with international NGO's are intended to further intimidate Russian citizens from speaking out and will have a serious impact on what is left of Russian democracy.

It is telling to look at how civil society has reacted to the news - not one person I have spoken to has been surprised (not even in the slightest.) This bill is everything we have come to expect from a Putin-led Kremlin.  Clearly, the financial crisis has sped-up Russia's continual slide into authoritarianism as fears rise among Putin and his cronies that their authority, and their wallets, will come under threat. 

The bill has a provision which says that any attempt to challenge Russia's ‘territorial integrity' will constitute treason.  This is clearly a thinly veiled assault on the rights of the democratic opposition movements - in Chechnya in particular - to advocate independence or even autonomy from a Kremlin autocracy that has terrorised them. 

Another section of the proposed law states that damaging ‘constitutional order' is also tantamount to treason.  Yet, the Kremlin recently passed a law to extend presidential terms which involved changing the constitution to get it passed.  But surely, if this is the barometer for treason, then the Kremlin should look no further than itself. 

As political freedoms are continually mauled by the Putin machine, we are constantly reminded that a managed democracy really is no democracy at all.  Mr Medvedev's promised liberalism is certainly nowhere to be seen.

Ivar

Director,

Chechnya Peace Forum