"A military blogger, zealous fundraiser for Russian troops, and promoter of openly genocidal rhetoric about Ukraine. A Ukrainian-born army volunteer and commentator for the state-controlled RT network lamenting that Russia had not launched its full-scale invasion sooner. These are the kinds of characters who have thrived in recent years in Putin's Russia, where unwavering loyalty and militant enthusiasm for the war in Ukraine were rewarded with money, status and influence."
"Yet all three along with other outwardly pro-Kremlin figures have of late found themselves targeted by the very state they once praised, which has turned its repressive machinery inward. Sergei Markov and Roman Alyokhin, the political analyst and pro-war blogger, were designated as foreign agents this year, a label previously used against anti-Putin voices. Carrying a negative Soviet-era connotation, it obliges people to identify themselves as foreign agents on social media and in other publications, as well as exposing them to crippling financial limitations."
Pro-Kremlin public figures who previously praised the leadership and supported the war in Ukraine have recently been targeted by state measures. Some have been designated foreign agents, while others have been labeled terrorists and extremists. Foreign-agent designation requires public identification as such on social media and publications and imposes severe financial restrictions. Prominent examples include Sergei Markov and Roman Alyokhin as foreign agents, and Tatyana Montyan as designated terrorist and extremist. The measures reflect a widening purge that affects not only dissenters but also loyalists, driven by factional infighting, while official authorities have offered no formal explanation for the crackdowns.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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