Russia revives Soviet methods of suppressing dissent, says UN expert
Russia is once again using Soviet methods of repression, including forced psychiatric treatment, to silence dissidents and opponents of the war. This was stated by Mariana Katsarova, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Russian Federation.
Source: Reuters
According to her, the Kremlin’s current policy demonstrates a systematic intensification of repression under the guise of national security laws and other legal mechanisms.
“Punitive psychiatry has returned as a tool against anti-war voices,” Katsarova emphasized at a briefing in Geneva.
Human rights activists point out that after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, Vladimir Putin’s government has become even more authoritarian. Moscow rejects these accusations, blaming the West for a “smear campaign.”
Soviet methods back in action
According to Katsarova’s report, since 2022, an average of 23 cases of forced psychiatry against dissidents have been recorded annually. For comparison, in 2015–2021, there were only five such cases per year.
Not only activists but also journalists fall victim to this method. Among them is Maria Ponomarenko, who was first imprisoned for “fake news about the war in Ukraine” and then sent for forced psychiatric treatment in 2023. In March this year, she received an additional 10-year sentence.
Some activists, as noted by Reuters, described their experience of forced psychiatric examinations in Siberian hospitals as traumatic and humiliating. This involves the imposition of unnecessary procedures and indefinite detention as a “patient.”
Systematic persecution
According to the human rights organization OVD-Info, since the start of the full-scale war, more than 20,000 people in Russia have been arrested for their anti-war stance.
Katsarova emphasizes that laws on “foreign agents” and ‘fakes’ are being used on a massive scale to brand journalists, opposition politicians, and activists as “enemies of the state.”
Moscow justifies its actions as “protecting internal stability” and accuses Western intelligence services of attempting to destabilize the country.
