Censorship in the Russian Federation
Censorship under Putin
Under the regime of President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (b. 1952), censorship is once again flourishing in Russia. The principles are the same as in the Stalin era, and the methods used are also more or less the same, adapted to modern times where necessary.
It may come as a surprise to the reader, but Article 29, paragraph 5 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation prohibits censorship. And yet works are banned and the freedom to disseminate information is severely restricted by the actions of the government, public organisations, and groups of citizens who feel offended and organise their own defense - whether or not influenced or incited by front men on behalf of the Kremlin or local governments.
In November 2013, for example, prosecutors checked the literature in the Stavropol school libraries and found books that had «nothing to do with the educational mission of the school». It was about books on «mysticism and eroticism». The chief prosecutor of the kray, Kurbangali Sharipov, found no fewer than 215 violations of the law on the protection of children and on harmful information. He demanded that the works of Sergei Yesenin and Vladimir Nabokov be removed because they «frighten children and cause crime». In response, Sharipov asked: «If you look at crime reports today, children aged nine to twelve commit robberies. How much do you think they have read?».
Kurbangali Sharipov
That same month, Orthodox activists disrupted Oscar Wilde’s play An Ideal Husband at the Moscow Art Theatre, demanding that «this sacrilege be stopped».
In July 2016, puritanical citizens in St. Petersburg demanded that the nudity of a copy of Michelangelo’s statue of David be covered with a hood. That same year, dozens of theatres and museums were attacked by «concerned citizens». Performances were interrupted - including the musical Jesus Christ Superstar in Omsk, photographs and artworks were splashed with urine and wood carvings were broken.
Earlier, the Bulgakov House in Moscow had also suffered senseless destruction. On 22 December 2006, the archive room and the children's theatre were largely destroyed by the religious fanatic Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Morozov. Several illustrations of Bulgakov's work by Russian artists were destroyed and the computers were also destroyed. The damage was estimated at 100,000 dollars. Morozov also organised virulent demonstrations to prevent a monument to Bulgakov from being erected at the nearby Patriarch's Ponds.
Fundamentalist opponents
Vladimir Vladimirovich Pozner (°1934) was the man who was the spokesman for the Kremlin during the Cold War and explained the Soviet Union's positions in the West. He is now a journalist for Channel 1, and in March 2008, at a meeting of the Russian Civic Federation on the issues of morality and ethics on national television, he said that there is no freedom of speech in Russia anymore. In 2011, he went a step further and admitted that there was a stop list for Russian television, that is, a list of names of people who were not allowed to be invited on television.
Vladimir Pozner
For example, since 2010, access to federal television had been banned for Boris Nemtsov, Alexei Navalny, Garry Kasparov, Mikhail Kasyanov and many others. Click on the arrow below to read more about Boris Nemtsov and Alexei Navalny.
According to journalist and politician Aleksander Glebovich Nevzorov (born 1958), 2014 was even the year in which censorship reached its highest level since the Soviet era. Nevzorov was added to the list of «foreign agents» on April 22, 2022. Because he had emigrated abroad, he was also placed on the international wanted list, but Interpol refused to extradite him on the grounds that the prosecution was politically motivated. On February 1, 2023, Nevzorov was sentenced in absentia to 8 years in prison, and was banned from managing Internet resources for 4 years after serving his sentence.
Aleksander Nevzorov
Since then, things have only gotten worse with escalations at the start of Russian military operations in the Donbas in 2014 and the invasion of the rest of Ukraine in 2022.
Although the constitution explicitly prohibits censorship, Russia’s censorship apparatus Roskomnadzor ordered that in 2022 the country’s media could only use information from official state sources if they did not want to face fines and blockades.
Roskomnadzor
One of the pillars for silencing political dissenters is the информационных технологий (Роскомнадзор) [informatsionnykh tekhnologiy (Roskomnadzor)]or the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor), established on December 3, 2008. Responsibilities include all forms of mass communication, electronic media, information technology and telecommunications. Furthermore, the organization must monitor compliance with the law on confidentiality of processed personal data and organise the radio frequency service
Roskomnadzor is also the body that manages Russian Internet censorship. It also designs and implements procedures of the Russian autonomous Internet subnetwork and controls the local ISPs, interconnection and Internet nodes. Its main purpose is to provide access to the Russian autonomous Internet subnetwork, even after a disconnection or isolation from the global Internet.
In practice, this organization determines what may or may not be printed, distributed or broadcast. In its daily operations, it is reminiscent of the Народный комиссариат просвещения (Наркомпрос) [Narodny komissariat prosveshcheniya] (Narkompros) or the People's Commissariat for Enlightenment in Bulgakov's time. Since March 29, 2020, Andrei Yurievich Lipovstrong> (°1969) at the head of Roskomnadzor.
Andrei Yurievich Lipov
In addition to controlling the dissemination of news, the Kremlin has also been busy setting prohibitive rules for information provided by third parties. For example, the social network Facebook, the search engine Google and the messaging network X, formerly Twitter, are taken under fire. According to Maksim Yurievich Ksenzov (°1973), deputy head of Roskomnadzor until 2016, these sites should be considered «news providers» and should therefore register as such with the government. «These platforms are dangerous for the people», it is said, because «through such sources the Russians can get a wrong worldview». The registration requirement applies to all blogs that receive more than 3,000 visitors per day. They must declare themselves to Roskomnadzor as a mass medium, with the same duties as newspapers and TV stations, but they are not granted journalistic rights
Maksim Yurievich Ksenzov
The lack of these rights allows Roskomnadzor to block, among other things, the blogs of Garry Kimovich Kasparov (°1963), former world chess champion, and Alexei Navalny (1976-2024), a well-known dissident who often provided examples of corruption in Russia. He collected and published information about the many proven frauds carried out by members of Putin's United Russia party, but his blogs are often not visible to the Russian public
Not only the writers of the blogs are being monitored. Their readers are also being increasingly monitored. Since the summer of 2014, for example, it has no longer been possible to use wifi anonymously in some public spaces Anyone who wants to access the internet must enter their identity details, which means their internet use can be tracked.
In November 2017, the Russian State Duma adopted a number of amendments to the laws «On Information» and «On Media», allowing Roskomnadzor to extrajudicially, upon simple request of the prosecutor's office, restrict the information provided by foreign non-governmental organisations that considered «undesirable» or by foreign media in Russia labeled as «foreign agents».
This means that, for people living in the Russian Federation, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that «everyone has the right […] without interference and through any media and regardless of frontiers, to seek, receive and impart information and ideas» no longer applies.
Two weeks later, on December 11, 2017, Roskomnadzor blocked several online resources at the request of the Prosecutor General, citing Article 15.3 of Federal Law No. 149-FZ. The list of blocked websites included, among others, the sites of the former owner of Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky: openrussia.org (Open Russia), openuni.io (Open University), or.team (Open Russia Team), pravo.openrussia.org (Open Russia Human Rights Project), imrussia.org (Institute for a Modern Russia), khodorkovsky.ru (Mikhail Khodorkovsky's personal website) and vmestoputina.ru (Vladimir Putin Alternatives). Outside Russia, these websites are still accessible.
On March 4, 2022, the Russian State Duma unanimously passed a law on «spreading fake news” about the Russian Armed Forces and the so-called «special military operation in Ukraine», «statements discrediting the Armed Forces», and «calls for sanctions against Russia». Anyone who commits this offence risks a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. The law applies retroactively and also to foreigners. In theory, the author of this could also be arrested.
Foreign agents
A second pillar to control the provision of information is the law on «foreign agents» signed by Vladimir Putin on July 20, 2012. Non-governmental organizations and individuals who receive foreign financial support or are «under foreign influence» and who also engage in «political activities» must register with the Ministry of Justice as «foreign agents». They must mention this status in all publications in the media and on the Internet. A change in the law at the end of 2020 obliges organizations that were already «foreign agents» to report not only on the management of the organization, but also on each employee
Since an extension of the law in July 2022, the Ministry of Justice can also determine the status of an organization as a «foreign agent» on its own initiative. This can be done even if there is no evidence that someone receives foreign funding – which was at least formally one of the criteria until then.
The definition of «political activity» is broadly interpreted and formulated very vaguely so that it can be interpreted to include all aspects of human rights, education and advocacy. For example, the World Wildlife Fund and several LGBT associations could be added to the register. The concept of «foreign funding» is also very broad: If it suits the authorities, it can also include the copyrights that Russian writers receive for the translations of their work abroad.
The label «foreign agent» is very stigmatizing. For many Russians, the term is equivalent to «foreign spy» or «traitor». Kremlin-supporting media gratefully make use of this frame. They insult «foreign agent» in smear campaigns. A «foreign agent» is also considerably inhibited in society because government agencies and representatives are not allowed to cooperate with them and they are also not allowed to organise public events.
The «foreign agent» are under closer supervision by the authorities. They must regularly account for all their activities and financial expenditures and the government can come and check this at any time. They are also obliged to clearly display the label of «foreign agent» in all their communication: on all printed materials and online, but also in everyday life. For example, when they give an interview, they must introduce themselves as a «foreign agent». The media are not allowed to publish anything about «foreign agents» without mentioning this label.
Attempts to get rid of the stigmatizing label through the courts are almost always fruitless.
Unwanted organisations
In addition to the register of «foreign agents», there is also a register of «unwanted organisations». The status of «unwanted organisation» is determined by the decision of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
These organisations are prohibited from operating on the territory of the Russian Federation. The term «territory» also includes the Russian-occupied areas of Eastern Ukraine and Crimea.
You can click on the arrow below to consult the lists of «foreign agents» and «unwanted organisations».
You can use the menu at the top right to read more about censorship of writers and censorship of the media.
Prohibited colours
On October 13, 2021, Roskomnadzor published on its official website a Register of colours and colour combinations that are unwanted for use in the Russian Federation. As expected, it includes a combination of the rainbow colours, from red to indigo, as well as pink, and the combination of yellow and blue. Organisations and individuals (designers, photographers, artists) who ignore Roskomnadzor's demands can be included in the register of «unwanted organisations». At a press conference, the head of Roskomnadzor Andrei Lipov argued: «You know, if a man wears a pink shirt, you have to agree: this is not quite normal. Children look at this and think: what's going on, I'll grow up and wear it too.» He added: «We already issued a warning to one construction company this morning; its logo is in the colours of the rainbow. Are you involved in construction or, excuse me, are you running an unconventional brothel? Well, then there are normal, appropriate colours: brick, grey, traditional building colours». And to conclude: «If people have no sense of taste, that's one thing, but if a generation grows up seeing such logos and accepting gay marriage as normal, this is, excuse me, a disaster, and you have to sound the alarm and shout: 'Guard!'» |
