Head of HRC FADEEV: There are no repression in Russia

The head of the Council for Human Rights (HRC) under the President of Russia Valery Fadeev said that there were no political repression in the country. He said this on the day of memory of the victims of political repression, which is celebrated annually on October 30.

“What we see now - yes, we have a difficult, tough situation, we are waging a war with the West. And some minimum restrictions on those who actually perform on the side of the enemy are not repressions, these are minimal sanitary measures,” Fadeeva quotes “Interfax” quoted.

According to the head of the HRC, repression is what was happening in the Soviet Union in 37-38 years of the XX century. “When 740 thousand people were shot, most of them are innocent people. We still do not know how many priests were shot in the 20-30s,” he said.

Fadeev also noted that Putin uses the institution of pardon not only to those who agree to go to war, so the HRC does not plan to offer an amnesty of prisoners.

At the same time, from 1991 to 2001, there was a presidential pardon commission, which pardoned 69,856 people. And after the abolition of her Putin, from 2002 to 2018, 890 people received pardon. The New Gazeta believed that before the start of the war, Putin signed the petitions for pardon on average for five people a year.

• According to the Memorial human rights center, at the end of October 2024 there are 776 people in Russia pursued for political reasons. Of these, 179 people are in prison.
• In memory of the victims of political repression since 2007, Russia has been conducting a civil action "Return of Names". On it, participants read out the names of people who were shot, sent to camps or amazed in rights during the years of Soviet power. This action usually takes place on the eve of the holiday, October 29.
• In 2024, the Russian authorities banned in many regions the "return of names". And on October 16, Roskomnadzor blocked the action site.
• In St. Petersburg, they wanted to hold an action in the Museum of Anna Akhmatova, but was canceled due to the requirement "orally" not to read the names.