Putin is asking prosecutors to be tougher on those who disagree with his policies

As if the Kremlin’s repressive measures are against the opposition and all those who disagree with the current policy and who are against war in Ukrainerussian president Vladimir Putinon Wednesday, he called on the prosecutors to raise their hands even more against those who, in his words, “destabilize” the situation in the country.

«Prosecutors must be more active in the fight against extremism, this is another important area of ​​work. As I already pointed out at the recent meeting with the leadership of the FSB [servicios secretos]the number of such crimes increased last year,” he said at an extended meeting of the collegium of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia. “I ask you to respond sharply to attempts to destabilize the socio-political situation in the country,” he added.

The charge of “extremism” allows the Russian police and judiciary to act, not only against jihadist organizations or against Ukrainian prisoners of war, as happened in some cases in the annexed territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson or Zaporozhye, but also against opposition political organizations, journalists , bloggers and anti-invasion activists.

are also approved laws that they punish any criticism of the army, Wagner group mercenaries or volunteers who sign up to fight on the front lines. A large number of people have already been sentenced for such “crimes” to long prison sentences. This Wednesday, the Federation Council (Upper House) approved the extension of this law, which prohibits the “discrediting” of participants in the offensive in Ukraine and increases the penalties to 15 years in prison. Now Putin needs to put his signature on the document.

Following his call to clamp down on the Russians, Putin received his Syrian counterpart in the Kremlin, Bashar al-Assad, who offered his support for the defeat of the “new and old Nazis” of Europe in Ukraine. The brutal repression Assad launched against the Arab Spring in his country caused civil war to break out on March 15, 2011, a date he fondly remembered while in the Russian capital.

“I want to take advantage, since this is my first visit since the beginning of the special operation in Ukraine, to reiterate the position of Syria in support of this operation against the new and old Nazis,” said Assad, who considers the invitation justified because the West accepted the old Nazis in his country , last century, and now supports them again.

The Syrian president noted that he shares Moscow’s vision regarding Ukraine, not only because of the friendship between their countries, but also because, in his opinion, Russia plays a “stabilizing” role in the world to avoid a general “breakdown.”

On September 30, 2015, Russia began its military intervention in that Arab country in aid of the Syrian regime. According to analysts, it was a powerful blow to the Kremlin, given the deterioration of its image due to the annexation of Crimea and the war in the east of Russia Ukraine. Above all, he wanted a greater presence of Moscow on the international scene. Now Assad has become a vassal of Moscow and is completely dependent on its help. Syria is practically a Russian protectorate. Against the backdrop of the stagnation suffered by the offensive in Ukraine and in the presence of a deeply grateful Assad, Putin is trying to hold up Syria as an example of stability, despite the fact that not all of the territory is pacified yet.