I’m sure it’s of little consolation to Nadezhda Buyanova, but she is not alone.

Dr. Buyanova is the 68-year-old Russian pediatrician who has been sentenced to 5-1/2 years in a penal colony for allegedly “publicly spreading deliberately false information” about the Russian armed forces . . . based only on the testimony of an angry woman and supported solely by the word of the woman’s seven-year-old son, whom defense counsel was not permitted to question.

Defense attorney Oskar Cherdzhiyev believes the accuser, Anastasia Akinshina — whose husband was killed fighting in Ukraine — acted out of malice due to Dr. Buyanova’s Ukrainian heritage. In a video, Akinshina expresses her anger thus:

“So the question is: where can I complain about this bitch now, so that she’ll be kicked out of the fucking country or sent to the devil in jail?” [Mark Trevelyan, Reuters, November 15, 2024.]

Nice.

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Whether or not Dr. Buyanova made the comments of which Akinshina accuses her — comments alleged to be opposed to Russia’s war against Ukraine — there is an even greater issue involved than the single case against this one citizen and the destruction of her 40-year medical career and the remainder of her life.

And that issue is the fact that this is not just a single case. It is one of a growing number of denunciations being made by neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend . . . and even family member against family member. And these denunciations — so terrifyingly reminiscent of the Stalin-era purges of more than half a century ago — are resulting in criminal prosecutions that are strictly politically motivated. And all have arisen since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022.

*. *. *

Since that time, according to Russian rights group OVD-Info, 21 such criminal cases have been brought based on unproven accusations by individuals. Eva Levenberg, a lawyer with OVD-Info residing in Germany, said that they knew of an additional 175 people facing lesser administrative charges for “discrediting” the Russian army — all based on the word of individual informants — 79 of which cases have resulted in substantial fines. [Id.]

(Note: Reuters reports that it has been unable to confirm the precise number of cases.)

The Russian Ministry of Justice has not responded to Reuters’ request for comment; and good old reliable Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said merely that “the Kremlin does not comment on court rulings.” [Id.]

But Russian President Vladimir Putin has had much to say, since the 2022 start of his “special military operation” in Ukraine, to encourage the Russian people to speak up against one another.

Declaring that Russia is in a “proxy war” with the West, he said that citizens need to help “root out internal enemies.” Just weeks after the invasion of Ukraine, he said that the Russian people:

“. . . will always be able to distinguish the true patriots from the scum and the traitors, and just spit them out like a gnat that accidentally flew into their mouths.” [Id.]

Well, there you are. If that isn’t an invitation to get busy snooping and accusing, then I don’t know what it is. It certainly is colorful.

And according to OVD-Info, since February of 2022 more than 20,000 people have been detained for making various anti-war statements or protests, with criminal cases filed against 1,094 of them. [Id.] Cases have even been noted of churchgoers denouncing priests, and students turning in their teachers.

It makes me wonder what has happened to the spirit of Putin’s “Year Of the Family,” and his declarations of the importance of “home, happiness and mutual support.”

Obviously, they were nothing but words. Empty, meaningless words.

As usual.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/17/24