Opinion | Russia just took a big step back toward the Soviet Union https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/04/russia-just-took-big-step-back-toward-soviet-union/?tid=ss_tw

Last week, for the first time since the Soviet era, the Kremlin officially classified opposition to its rule as a criminal offense.

In a decision harking back to the infamous Article 70 of Soviet Russia’s criminal code that penalized “anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda” Moscow prosecutors suspended the activities of the nationwide organization of Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent.

Navalny is currently incarcerated in a prison camp after surviving a state-sponsored assassination attempt last year.

“Under the guise of liberal slogans these organizations [like Navalny's] are creating conditions for destabilizing the social and political situation,” read a statement from the Moscow prosecutor’s office.

“Their actual goal is to change the constitutional order, including through a ‘color revolution’ scenario.” (“Color revolutions” refer to popular uprisings that toppled authoritarian regimes in many post-Soviet states, including Ukraine and Georgia.)

Prosecutors requested that the Moscow City Court designate three organizations linked to the opposition leader — the Navalny Headquarters, the Anti-Corruption Foundation and the Foundation for the Protection of Citizens Rights — as “extremist.”

The court hearing is scheduled for May 17, but everyone already knows the outcome.

The “extremist” label would place Navalny’s organization — a peaceful political movement whose methods include holding demonstrations, supporting opposition candidates in elections and conducting public investigations of government corruption — (cont)

(cont) — (most notably Navalny’s investigation of Putin’s $1.3 billion palace on the Black Sea coast) — on par with terrorist groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda.

Anyone working for the Navalny organization — a network of nearly 40 regional affiliates across Russia — could face up to six years in prison.

Anyone donating money could be jailed for up to eight years. Anyone leading or directing the groups’ activities could get up to 10 years behind bars.