The Real Russia. Today.

What human rights lawyers do when their backs are to the wall

Monday, December 20, 2021

• International: Russia vs. Germany, and (opinion) Andrei Kolesnikov says Russians don’t want a ‘real’ war
• Law and Order: Team 29 2.0, Gulagu.net dumps another torture video archive, Pavel Astakhov Jr.’s house arrest, the incredible cost of Russian kickbacks, Ilya Sachkov’s rumored ‘If You’re Watching This’ video, and LDPR’s Soviet regrets
• Society: the legacy of disputed territory between North Ossetia and Ingushetia, a mysterious prison letter, and Roskomnadzor’s plan for A.I.

International

🕊️ Russia expels two German diplomats, decries allegations of state involvement in Khangoshvili murder (A “symmetrical response” to Berlin’s expulsion of two Russian diplomats, last week, says Moscow. A German court recently convicted Russian national Vadim Krasikov, an alleged FSB officer, of murdering a former Chechen field commander in Berlin in August 2019.)

⚔️ (Opinion) Andrei Kolesnikov says Russians aren’t eager for a ‘real, large-scale’ war (Enthusiasm for Moscow’s involvement in eastern Ukraine faded as the conflict’s costs became more apparent. The “rallying-around-the-flag” effect of Crimea’s annexation has also petered out. Even state propaganda is now “overused,” argues Kolesnikov. The Putin-era social contract, he says, ended with the raising of Russia’s retirement ages. Kolesnikov concludes by warning the Kremlin that the “mobilization effect” of an expanded conflict in Ukraine “will be nonexistent,” but he also cautions that the state media “will convince most Russians that [war] is necessary” — if it happens.)

Law and order

⚖️ Exiled human rights lawyer Ivan Pavlov launches new legal group to take on Russia’s treason and espionage cases (4-min read)

Exiled human rights lawyer Ivan Pavlov has launched a new legal group that specializes in defending those accused of treason and espionage in Russia. Pavlov, who fled abroad to escape criminal charges in September, previously led Team 29 — a similar human rights initiative that tackled some of Russia’s most challenging political prosecutions. The group disbanded in July 2021, to protect its members and supporters from persecution. Pavlov’s new project, dubbed “Pervy Otdel” (which translates as “First Department” or “Department One”) also aims to take on cases that are handled “behind closed doors” and will function in cooperation with colleagues working “on the ground” in Russia.

🎞️ Human rights project Gulagu.net releases more footage of torture in Russian prisons (This time, the video allegedly comes from Krasnoyarsk. The same group’s leak in October led to some senior turnover at Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service, and federal lawmakers just introduced draft legislation that would raise penalties for torture committed by guards, but Gulagu.net’s work has not yet led to any known felony convictions.)

⚖️ Son of former children’s rights commission placed under house arrest in embezzlement case (Pavel Astakhov’s son, Anton, lost his appeal and now finds himself under house arrest. He’s reportedly accused of fabricating records and requesting 130 million rubles, about $1.8 million, in fraudulent tax refunds.)

💰 Research finds that kickbacks to state officials equates to roughly a third of Russia’s entire federal budget (Scholars at the Higher School of Economics say companies bidding on government contracts spent roughly 6.6 trillion rubles, or $89.2 billion, to secure the deals. More than 70 percent of suppliers say they encounter this form of corruption. The average bribe here costs about 22.5 percent of the total contract’s value, say scholars.)

🎞️ Jailed Group-IB founder Ilya Sachkov reportedly recorded video message roughly a year ago, well before his arrest (no details about the video are confirmed, but sources told Forbes Russia that Sachkov anticipated being charged with treason)

😡 LDPR lawmakers will seek State Duma declaration stating that the USSR’s collapse was ‘the main geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century’ (Putin famously offered a similar characterization of the Soviet Union’s dissolution in a speech in 2005)

Society

🕯️ A dispatch from the Prigorodny District, where violence broke out between Ingush and Ossetian residents 30 years ago — and nobody has forgotten (32-min read)

The Prigorodny District is a disputed territory on the border between the Russian republics of North Ossetia and Ingushetia. Violence broke out there 30 years ago — and to this day, Ingush and Ossetian neighbors in Prigorodny avoid speaking to one another and send their children to separate schools. In a dispatch from Prigorodny, Meduza special correspondent Sasha Sivtsova examines why the conflict, which was triggered by state repressions, is still going on after so many years.

✍️ Allegedly written by ‘thieves-in-law’ criminal leaders, document circulates in Russia’s prisons instructing inmates to end abuse of those raped with objects by guards (There’s no consensus about the authenticity of the “circular order” among the sources with knowledge of Russia’s criminal and prison worlds who spoke to Mediazona. Some believe the message was concocted by the authorities to exert some control over prisoners, but others say there are precedents for “humane” policy shifts within Russia’s criminal community.)

🧠 Federal censor explores using artificial intelligence to monitor video games for ‘prohibited content’ (This is the fourth story from Kommersant in the past month about a Russian state entity researching uses for A.I. In the past, the newspaper has reported the authorities’ interest in such software to scan social media and diagnose anti-social disorders, analyze surveillance camera footage and issue crowd-control recommendations to police, and forecast wildfires and high-risk zones.)

Yours, Meduza