Posted by Human Rights Watch about freedom of speech in Russia

The Human Rights Watch international human rights organization has published a report on the state of affairs of freedom of speech in Russia over the past few years.

A document in English, entitled "Online and on all fronts. The attack on freedom in Russia ”( Online and On All Fronts. Russia's Assault on Freedom of Expression ) is available on the Human Rights Watch website.

It says that since 2012, the Russian authorities have strengthened the advance of freedom of speech, which is expressed in the fact that “criticism of the government is arbitrarily declared a threat to national security and public stability”, “significant restrictions on freedom of speech on the Internet” are introduced, “aggressive control over online activity” is carried out.

The document, in particular, mentions such repressive measures as criminal prosecution for publications on social networks, online video, articles and interviews, and laws intended to combat extremism are applied to pursue people of opposition views.

“Although new restrictions on freedom of speech are directed against political opposition or civilian activists, their impact is felt by all citizens of Russia,” the authors of the report said.

Discussing the state of affairs with the freedom of the press, they note that “with rare exceptions, all the main media have turned into state propaganda authorities,” and come to the conclusion that “the state’s intervention in the activity of media reached a level that has not been in Russia since the Soviet Union”.

Human Rights Watch calls on the Government of the Russian Federation to "immediately terminate freedom of speech." Among the measures recommended by human rights activists, amendments to the legislation on extremism, the rejection of the practice of extrajudicial prohibitions, the abolition of political censorship on the Internet, the abolition of a number of recently adopted laws, including the Law on Propaganda of Homosexualism, the Law of Yarova, the Laws on Foreign Agents and “Undescriptive Organizations”.

The Internet companies working in Russia, Human Rights Watch recommends to store user data outside the Russian Federation, as well as publish information about the requests of Russian special services related to restriction of freedom on the Internet.