By Joshua Carpenter
As the Russo-Ukrainian war wages on in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, another war is being fought within Russia: a war between the Russian government and the Russian citizen, between the taking of freedom and the expression of it— the war on Russian censorship.
Since Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity in February of 2014, which was led by Ukrainian protestors who overthrew their government in a series of deadly protests, the country has been in a state of war with Russia over its independence. The goal of the Ukrainian protestors was to turn their government away from choosing closer ties to Russia after Victor Yanukovych (Ukraine’s president at the time) was pressured by Russia into rejecting a political association and free trade agreement with the European Union (EU). According to BBC News, Yanukovych argued, “Ukraine could not afford to sacrifice trade with Russia, which opposed the [EU] deal.” But this argument did not keep the Ukrainian parliament from overthrowing him with, as Kyiv Post, the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine reported, a “328-0 vote to impeach Yanukovych.” Agitated, Russia considered the overthrow of Yanukovych to be an illegal coup and did not recognize parliament’s implementation of an interim (acting) government. Ukraine has been breaking ties with Russia ever since then with a focus on empowering itself as an independent nation.
What the world is seeing in 2022 is a similar story to Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity. Russian citizens have become increasingly aware of what many of them would refer to as government corruption, abuse of power, and violation of human rights—all of which fueled them to protest the war against Ukraine and to call for Russian President Putin’s impeachment. While doing so, however, they are being met with aggressive censorship.
As illuminated by the Human Rights Watch, an international non-governmental organization that reports on abuses happening throughout the world, “The 2019 ‘sovereign internet’ law [Russian law] requires internet service providers (ISPs) to install equipment that allows authorities to circumvent providers and automatically block content the government has banned and reroute internet traffic themselves.” With this law in place, Russian authorities have the legal right to suppress public expression of disapproval of the government’s official narrative (being that there is no war, only a special military operation).
Stepping outside of the internet, peaceful anti-war protestors on the streets of Moscow are being arrested by the thousands. The Human Rights Watch reported, “The [Russian] police used excessive force against protestors while detaining them and, in several instances, inflicted abuse amounting to torture or inhuman and degrading treatment, on those in custody.”
In a security council meeting, Putin commented on what he thinks of anti-war protestors, “The Russian people will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and simply spit them out like a gnat that accidentally flew into their mouths.” When asked about the Russian government’s excessive force against such “scum,” Putin said, “I am convinced that such a natural and necessary cleansing of society will only strengthen our country, our solidarity, cohesion and readiness to respond to any challenges.”
For further information on the war between Russia and Ukraine, websites like The Human Rights Watch provide regular updates on this as well as other human rights violations occurring throughout the world.★
