There are some who may have thought my opinions too strong in yesterday's post ("The Old is New Again in Russia: Police State, Controlled Media, Rollback on Democratic Reforms") suggesting as I did that Russia had returned to its dictatorial, corrupt, Cold War ways...if, that is, it had ever really left them.The evidence of the last several years, however, fully justifies my conclusions.
As do the latest moves of the Kremlin in expanding the definition of treason to include mere criticism of the state!
Indeed, Duma member Andrei Lugovoy (the man many believe is responsible for the murder of dissident Alexander Litvinenko) is publicly arguing that anyone "damaging the interests" of Mother Russia should be killed.
“If someone has caused the Russian state serious damage, they should be exterminated. Do I think someone could have killed Litvinenko in the interests of the Russian State? If you're talking about the interests of the Russian State, in the purest sense of the word, I myself would have given that order. I'm not talking about Litvinenko but about any person who causes serious damage.”
Here's the story about the brazen new law, Lugovoy's outrageous comments and the latest crackdowns on peaceful protest from this past weekend as explained by Tony Halpin, the Times (U.K.) reporter in Moscow.
