As U.S.-Russian relations plumb new depths, opposition-minded Russian activists are getting a painful taste of an experience that was very familiar to Soviet-era dissidents: The worse relations got between the USSR and the West, the harder the Kremlin cracked down on its domestic critics.
In recent months, Russian authorities have introduced what many are calling a new paradigm of authoritarian repression. Many activists who had hitherto been officially tolerated have been arrested, and formerly acceptable civil society groups shut down.
Why We Wrote This
Russia may not be at war with the West, but it is increasingly using a warlike sensibility in its domestic rhetoric and policy. And that’s having a real cost for civil society.