of Martha
Ottaviani
In Russia, telling the truth is expensive. Sergei Mingazov, a journalist for the Russian edition of Forbes, was arrested on charges of spreading false news about the Armed Forces. This was made known by the newspapers Rbk and Meduza, who were in turn informed by the reporter’s lawyer. Mingazov’s fault was publishing on his Telegram channel, called Khabarovskaya Mingazeta, news regarding the 2022 Bucha massacre that went against Moscow’s official version: it spoke of mass graves full of Ukrainians killed by the Russians. The journalist, who is a rather well-known name in the economic world and who in the past had also written for the newspaper Vedomosti, now finds himself locked up in a region of the Russian Far East.
Also here, but in the city of Chita, two young people were convicted for running anti-war Telegram channels. To be precise, Lyubov Lizunova, 17, was found guilty of inciting extremism and terrorism and Alexander Snezhkov, 19, of spreading false news. They will spend five years behind bars.
But yesterday another excellent arrest was ordered. The Syktyvkar court, in the Komi Republic, north-western European Russia, has issued an arrest warrant against Garry Kasparov, one of the greatest chess champions of all time and co-founder of the Russia Free Forum. Considered one of the most famous and bitter opponents of President Putin, Kasparov fled Russia in 2013 and lives in Great Britain, from where he continues his work of denouncing the regime. He is accused of financing terrorist organizations and of having created a community that represents a risk to national security. However, the activist Yevgeniya Chirikova, the former executive director of the Russian solidarity movement Ivan Tyutrin and the former deputy Gennady Gudkov were actually arrested.
Not only handcuffs on the wrists, but also kidnappings. President Putin has signed a decree for the temporary transfer of the Russian subsidiaries of Ariston and Bosch to the Russian Gazprom Domestic Systems, the company of the state-owned Gazprom group that produces household appliances. The measure follows the one adopted last year for the Russian subsidiaries Danone and Carlsberg, giving control to the Federal Agency for Property Management, Rosimushchestvo, after the French and Danish companies announced their exit from the Russian market.
Meanwhile, May 9, the day on which Russia celebrates the anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War, is approaching, but the progress that the Kremlin was counting on to fuel the propaganda machine has not arrived in the Ukrainian field. On the contrary, Biden’s signature on the 95 billion euro aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and the sending of Atacms long-range missiles to Kiev for the first time seem to have brought some nervousness to the Red Square. “The US is directly involved in the conflict – said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov –. But this will not change the outcome. Russia will achieve all its objectives and this military assistance will cause further problems for Ukraine itself.” But Ukraine resists and signs of strengthening of the Baltic region are arriving from Europe. Sweden, a few months after joining NATO, announced the deployment of mechanized units in Latvia, including CV90 and Leopard2 tanks. Stockholm Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and his Latvian counterpart Evika Silina called the measure “more urgent than it was previously.”
