Yuri Kobzar14:26, 06.11.25

There are no liberals left in Russia, and the security forces need to catch “internal enemies” somewhere to justify their existence.

Russia’s repressive system has already dealt with opponents of the Putin regime and the war with Ukraine in particular. Now, the system has turned to eliminating supporters of the regime and the war who have somehow displeased the authorities or their cronies. This is reported by The Guardian , which details recent high-profile cases of repression.

The publication notes that in previous years, the Russian government used the “foreign agent” law to silence opposition speakers. However, this status was recently assigned to pro-Kremlin political analyst Sergei Markov and Z-blogger and activist Roman Alekhine.

Russia also maintains an official list of “terrorists and extremists.” In the past, it included those opponents of the regime deemed particularly dangerous to the Kremlin. For example, many members of opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s team, who had conducted anti-corruption investigations, were once included on this list. However, recently, Z blogger Tatyana Montyan, who betrayed Ukraine and defected to Russia, was officially declared a “terrorist and extremist.”

The true reasons for the repressions

Putin’s regime had its own grievances against each of these three, but, as The Guardian writes, taken together these cases indicate a new trend in Russia: now they are purging not only dissidents, but also supporters of the regime – as part of a behind-the-scenes struggle between various factions within the system.

“At first, they persecuted anti-war voices. Now they’re gone, and the repressive machine is unstoppable,” says Russian political scientist Ekaterina Shulman.Read also:

According to her, the crackdown on propagandists is part of an internal struggle between two camps. Professional propagandists, closely linked to the Ministry of Defense and the Kremlin, are in sharp conflict with an unorganized movement of ultra-nationalist pro-war activists known as Z-bloggers, or “militarists.”

Z-bloggers actively support the very idea of ​​war and the destruction of Ukraine, but often express dissatisfaction with the Russian army’s ineffectiveness in killing Ukrainians, and with heavy losses for itself. And although strategically, the “militarists” are allies of the Kremlin in the war with Ukraine, for an authoritarian regime like Russia’s, any civil self-organization, even a seemingly loyal one, is considered dangerous, says Shulman.

Repression for the sake of repression

Russian opposition figures who have fled Russia do not hide their bitter irony that the “militarists” who once rejoiced in the repression of “liberals” have suddenly discovered that justice in Russia is selective and that literally anyone can be imprisoned without cause.

Shulman expects further arrests of “militarists.” Since there are almost no “liberals” left in Russia, the repressive apparatus will inevitably seek and find new internal enemies, she believes.

“The Russian repressive apparatus must fulfill its quotas. The machine must continue to feed itself,” the political scientist said.

(C)UNIAN 2025