At the end of 2020, the State Duma returned to the "frantic printer" mode. To complicate the life of the opposition in the elections in 2021 as much as possible

On December 24, the State Duma closed the autumn session, the last weeks of which the deputies worked in the “frantic printer” regime, which had managed to slightly forget. In accelerated mode, parliamentarians introduced and managed to adopt - at least in the first reading - an array of bills that seriously tightened the laws on “foreign agents”, conducting mass events, campaigning on the Internet and educational activities. The initiatives, as a rule, were introduced by the uninstalls, sometimes colleagues from the Liberal Democratic Party and Just Russia joined them. A huge number of new laws and amendments will somehow affect the elections to the State Duma, which should be held in 2021: now it will be much more difficult for opposition parties to put forward candidates, engage in campaigning, organize mass shares and observe the honesty of elections, say politicians and experts with which the Medusa specialist spoke.

Why did the Kremlin decide to hastily tighten the legislation?

As Medusa already said , the prohibitive bills that the Parliament considered at the end of 2020 is the Kremlin’s response to what he considers foreign intervention in the elections to the State Duma.

“The security forces are actively inspiring the president that the West is interfering in our elections, so this campaign is almost a war, this is not even a domestic policy - a foreign one,” Medusa told Medusa one of the United Russia. A person close to the leadership of the State Duma apparatus now confirms that new laws are developed and adopted on the eve of the election to the parliament: "So that everything goes smoothly, without unnecessary noise."

“Of course, they will try to intervene, they do it all the time, and not only in our elections - practically around the world. This is a global policy, both the databases around the world and interference around the world. We know this, we are preparing for this. But we will be able to resist this effectively only if the overwhelming number of our citizens will understand that: a) this is an intervention and b) we must resist this, that it is unacceptable, that we ourselves must determine our fate, ” said Russian President Vladimir Putin in December at the annual press conference.

For example, the “smart voting” of Alexei Navalny, any seminars for observers or educational events on related to the topic related to the Presidential Administration (AP) of the Medusa’s interlocutors, create “general background of discontent”, as well as critical publications to officials and uninstairs deputies in social networks are considered instruments of foreign influence.

The State Duma adopted dozens of new laws in a terrible hurry. According to the State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Communist Party of Vera Ganzya, the deputies did not even have time to read many new documents. “In order to adopt such laws that have a serious impact on the country's domestic life, they must be comprehensively discussed. And we have some of the laws for one day in three readings, - the Hanzya is indignant. - These laws were hastily adopted under the pretext of protecting the country's political life from the influence of foreign states, but under the plausible, it seems like an excuse for the authorities to finish the last residues of the opposition in the country. The state Duma of the seventh convocation will go down in history as the most reactionary Duma since the beginning of Russian parliamentarism. ”

“The end of the year is the time that you need to have time to do what I did not have time during the year. It seems to me that this is a common occurrence for everyone, not only for public service, but also for private business. I’m not a conspiracyologist, I’m used to saying that I know, ”the co -author of several new documents explains the shaft of new laws, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Unicorn Alexander Khinshtein.

The authorities are trying to compensate for the fall of the United Russia rating with new large -scale restrictions and prohibitions, said the co -chair of the Voice movement Grigory Melkonian. The elections will be held in martial law, and the main actors will be “foreign agents” that individuals can now become, that is, absolutely any citizens.

“I think that the phrase“ foreign agents ”will become the main thing in the parliamentary elections. This will be presented as an intervention - such a propaganda campaign will be, ”Melkonian predicts.

What laws concern candidates for State Duma deputies?

At the end of 2020, a whole package of bills expanding the concept of “foreign agent” and introducing new prohibitions and fines for them was introduced to the State Duma. The law that allows individuals to recognize individuals by “foreign agents” and introduce them to a special register, the State Duma adopted in three readings, it was supported by the Federation Council.

“Foreign agents” deputies proposed recognizing people who are engaged in political activities or collecting military-technical information and at the same time receive funds from abroad.

In the development of this law, the State Duma recently adopted in the first reading another document , according to which, if a person recognized as an “agent” is running for elected positions, he becomes a “foreign agent” candidate. He must indicate information about this in his signature sheets and agitation and even before performances. In addition, the term “candidate affected with foreign agents” appears in the legislation - such a candidate is endowed with such a status in case of financing from the “agent” directly or through intermediaries.

In this document it is also proposed to prohibit “foreign agents” engage in activities that contribute to or prevents the nomination of candidates and achieving election victory. This law will be able to use this law very simply, says Melkonian: “For example, if Navalny is recognized as an individual“ a foreign agent ”, he will simply be banned by any information about the elections.”

The State Duma candidates are directly related to the laws on agitation on the Internet: they give the right to Centrisbirrome and regional election commission through Roskomnadzor to block sites or publications without a court if the commission saw signs of illegal agitation or violation of the election legislation. The calls of bloggers will also support the documents to support one or another candidate or party. According to the authors of initiatives, such publications on Internet media and blogs should be paid from electoral funds, just as this happens with publications in traditional media. For violation of new laws, fines will be appointed - up to 20 thousand rubles for citizens and up to 500 thousand rubles for officials.

“And if some blogger has a formalized support, it will be illegal agitation,” says deputy Khintstein, co-author of these laws. The reproaches is that now any information about the party or candidate will be considered agitation, he calls it unfair: “The Internet today is a source of obtaining a large amount of information, for cities, sociology shows that people receive more information from the Internet than from traditional media. Consequently, the existence of a legal vacuum creates an absolutely absurd situation. ”

These are the first large -scale restrictions on the Internet: before the network was a relatively free space, the co -chair of the Voice Grigory Melkonets notes. “The law is aimed at large sites, it is not enough to catch individual users of the CIK and the regional election commissarians, they will respond to incoming complaints. Imagine some blogger who earns his blog on YouTube, who has a large audience, says something about the elections or supports someone. And they will try to attract such bloggers for illegal agitation, ”says Melkonian.

The illegal agitation of the authorities, for example, may include the recommendations of the “smart vote” of Alexei Navalny about the support of the one or another candidate for the State Duma, is afraid of the head of the Moscow headquarters of Navalny Oleg Stepanov. The authorities will “fine large media and famous bloggers,” he said.

In addition, the head of Navalny’s headquarters believes that, using this law, the authorities will try to block the Smart Voting website. “Blocking the Smart Voting website is an important task for the presidential administration. I will not be surprised if they have individual meetings about this. Therefore, we urge all supporters to register on the site now in order to receive a letter with a candidate for the desired district, ”he says.

They are not going to turn off activities at Navalny's headquarters after adopting new laws. Oleg Stepanov says that if society reacts negatively, the authorities will make editing to odious initiatives, or in fact these laws will not be applied. “At one time, the authorities tried to introduce, for example, a register of bloggers, but were forced to cancel, because the law caused a negative reaction of society, ignored and was unfulfilled. For the same reason, the “Dadinskaya” article did not work for a long time, ”he recalls.

Another law, which will limit freedom of speech on the Internet before the elections and affect the candidates directly, is the amendments of the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Development of Civil Society, United Russia Dmitry Vyatkin on slander . For the spread of slander on the Internet and other public sources will now be planted for two years (before there were only fines or compulsory work). If slander is connected with the charge of committing a crime against sexual integrity and sexual freedom of personality or a serious or especially serious crime, it will be possible to sit down for five years. Vyatkin refused to comment "Medusa", referring to employment.

“Officials and current deputies who will criticize the candidates for deputies will be offended and assumed that they were slandered. There will be a lot of offended. What is a criminal case? In practice, this means that searches are immediately carried out in the election headquarters, equipment, campaigning materials are seized, that is, the work of headquarters is blocked, ”said Melkonian.

All this will prevent the normal election campaign in both offline and on the Internet even for those who are registered, Melkonian recognizes regretfully. “Candidates from the authorities do not need to move, they will do everything for them. And the opposition candidates will have to run, and for this you need to go around mines. And mines are everywhere. "

What laws concern activists?

The campaign in the Moscow City Duma in 2019 was accompanied by mass protests against the refusal of registration of opposition candidates. Most of the shares were not agreed with the authorities, so the police brutally dispersed their participants. Then, among the activists, the format of a single picket became popular, the participants of which took turns unfolding posters - such shares, for example, shortly before that, were in support of the Medusa specialist Ivan Golunov, to whom the police threw drugs.

Previously, single pickets were not considered a public mass event and therefore did not require approvals. According to the new initiative of the deputy Vyatkin, “the alternate participation of several persons in the acts of picket” is a public event, which means that it requires agreements from the authorities. The authorities can refuse to register opposition candidates and in the elections to the State Duma, but the protest shares on this subject will be much more complicated. The new law introduces a ban on rallies and pickets near emergency buildings. The authorities will also be able to cancel public actions due to the threat of emergency or terrorism.

The pickets are generally absurd, says the journalist and Moscow municipal deputy Ilya Azar, who participated in the organization of protest actions and himself regularly entered single pickets. “The FSB was so furious that in February 2020 a thousand people lined up around the building on the Lubyanka, that they decided to fight the single pickets,” he argues. - It is understandable: “United Russia” does not conduct single pickets, and the rules for holding rallies should also be at least formally observed. As a result, single picketers turned into Kamikadze: against amendments to Pushkin’s or during sentences from the courts, you can get into a disagreement at least 500 people, and any picket line ends with mass detention of all who dared to raise the poster. ”

The Azar calls the law on pickets “a burning hat on the head of a thief”: for participation in the “picket queue” everyone has been fined and arrested since May 2020, although it became legitimate only in December: “Maybe then to cancel all the court decisions from December if the picket line did not contradict the law?”

The coordination of the “picket line” with the authorities, says the Azar, “kills the whole idea of ​​a single picket as an instant response to a specific event or the atrocity of power.” “The authorities want a spontaneous protest only like this: a person, not reporting to anyone about his intention, went out with a poster near his house and after ten minutes the poster, without laying out anywhere photographs about his act.”

Elections are impossible without freedom of assembly, says Melkonians: “Citizens should be able to express their position, including in this form. And under the new laws, the authorities will be able to cancel even agreed events. In addition, in fact, rallies are equated with an election campaign - you need to open a bank account, report on who transferred the money, to which you spent it. And foreign financing is prohibited. ”

The Navalny Foundation has already been recognized as an agent because of the story with the “Spanish sponsor of the FBK” , and the “League of Voters” by the Ministry of Justice recognized the “foreign agent” for transferring 230 rubles from a citizen of Moldova in 2019. “In fact, this is a ban on holding rallies - any rally, if desired, can be made by a rally of“ foreign agents ”. This is a serious blow to the legitimacy of the elections, ”says the co -chair of the Voice movement.

“If unrest flashes, all these laws will be useless. Popular anger will sweep away all laws with the ruling party, ”says the communist Hanzya.

What laws concern observers?

According to one of the laws regarding the “agents”, which was introduced led by the Chairman of the Commission of the Federation Council for the Protection of Sovereignty and the prevention of interference in the internal affairs of Russia Andrei Klimov and adopted in the first reading, seven types of “foreign agents” will appear in the country. Their participation in everything related to the elections will be additionally limited, the co -chair of the Voice Grigory Melkonets notes.

“As a result, NPOs and public organizations will not be able to participate in the elections in any form - neither as observers or as analysts. This can also be extended to citizens-individuals of foreign agents, to associations without the formation of a legal entity-such as groups on Facebook. The activities of Voice will actually be prohibited, they will most likely make agents a large number of active individuals, ”Melkonian predicts. In his opinion, the large organizations that are monitored by the election will be destroyed with a high probability, and citizens will be able to gather only in less formal small associations and self -organize.

Observers in the elections are also applied by the so -called law on educational activities, Melkonian believes. These amendments are also accepted in the first reading and were also made by senators from the Commission of the Suhing Council for the protection of sovereignty.

Under educational activities, parliamentarians suggest understanding “an activity carried out outside the framework of educational programs aimed at spreading knowledge, skills, valuable attitudes” for professional, creative or intellectual development. Senators offer to resolve such activities only in agreement with the authorities, because, in their opinion, “anti -Russian forces” intervene without regulation by the state.

“Lectures on the preparation of observers, methodological materials, brochures - everything falls under this law. All this activity will have to be coordinated by the government. This can be a blow to the preparation of observers in 2021, ”said Melkonian.

He calls the “self -self -samocation” the adoption by the authorities of such decisions regarding observers in the elections: “People who act as headliners of all these changes and promote them, prove their need. It is important for them that the threat looks real, so they themselves create imaginary threats. So it was with a “voice” . They shot fake videos, made fake reports and manuals for observers that we supposedly written in them: “Arrange provocations! Tear off the elections!” And they showed it all through the first and other channels. И это стало в том числе предпосылкой, чтобы появились все эти законы».

По его мнению, о мнимых угрозах говорят люди, заинтересованные в получении денег и ресурсов для защиты от этих угроз: «И верхушка начинает верить, что действительно тут шпионы кругом, и дает отмашки на любые решения, лишь бы остаться у власти. Отрыв от реальности наверху такой, что они там думают, что тут все уже, войска НАТО стоят у ворот».

«У „Единой России“ нет даже 30% [голосов избирателей], это дутая цифра. Без махинаций, без мощнейшего административного давления, без провокаций в отношении оппозиции любого направления „Единая Россия“ никогда не наберет голоса, а им поставили задачу — 70%! Это невозможно, — считает депутат от КПРФ Вера Ганзя, — поэтому они готовятся к тому, что выборы будут проходить с фальсификациями, и смертельно боятся, что махинации и административное давление вызовут народные волнения и мощный протест. Перед глазами у них Хабаровск и Белоруссия, а еще и Молдавия, где неожиданно победила оппозиционный кандидат».

Авторы: Андрей Перцев и Фарида Рустамова

Editor: Valery Igumenov