‘Ever Deeper into Darkness’

Oleg Orlov has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison — a relatively brief sentence, for dissidents in Putin’s Russia. But who knows how long Orlov will be in prison? The real sentence for dissidents in Russia is: for as long as Putin is in power. Everyone knows it. Navalny knew it. Kara-Murza knows it. Etc.

Orlov, age 70, is a legendary figure in the Russian human-rights community. He is the co-chairman of Memorial, which is the largest human-rights organization, and the largest civil-society organization, in Russia.

It’s hard to know what tense to use: “is”? “was”? The Kremlin has banned Memorial, of course, along with civil society at large. Yet Memorial persists, operating whenever and however it can.

Memorial’s first chairman was Sakharov. The purpose of the organization is two-fold: to expose the truth about the Soviet past and to promote democracy in the present. Obviously, Memorial is intolerable to the dictatorship.

In 2022, Memorial shared the Nobel Peace Prize.

Before being sentenced, Orlov told the BBC that trials like his show that “Russia has become a totalitarian state.”

In the courtroom, Orlov said that, with the death of Navalny, Russia is “sinking ever deeper into darkness.” Freedom, he said, is being “suffocated.” He quoted Navalny’s slogan: “Don’t give up!” He added, “Don’t lose heart!”

Here is the report of the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg:

And here is a prior report from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. It tells us, among other things, that Oleg Orlov brought with him to the courtroom a copy of Franz Kafka’s novel, The Trial.

• Please note that some 15 diplomats from democratic countries attended Orlov’s trial. When we speak of solidarity with peoples and individuals under siege, in dictatorships: this is the kind of thing we mean.

• As Rosenberg notes in the report I have shared, today is the anniversary of the death of Boris Nemtsov, who was the leader of the opposition to Putin. Nemtsov was gunned down within sight of the Kremlin in 2015.

• Honestly, I thought all of Navalny’s lawyers had been arrested — had been arrested last year. But here is some news: “Navalny’s Former Lawyer Detained in Moscow After Helping Mother Press for Release of Son’s Body.” (For that report, go here.)

• Here is another glimpse of life in Putin’s Russia:

Imagine the fear. This is a “fear society,” as Natan Sharansky would say (and does).

• Note this, too: “Russia’s Online Campaign to Destroy Yulia Navalnaya.” The subheading of that report reads, “Social media accounts, Kremlin-backed websites, and Telegram channels are all working in coordination to post false allegations about Alexei Navalny’s widow.” You can be sure that many, many Americans and other Westerners will be repeating those things soon, if they aren’t already.

• Here is Donald Trump:

Another obscenity, from the standard-bearer of the Republican Party. What Trump has in common with Sakharov and Sharansky — with Navalny, Kara-Murza, and Orlov — is exactly zero.

Trump, as you know, has not criticized Putin for his imprisonment and murder of dissidents, or for anything else.

• A young woman — a teenager — to be aware of:

A court in Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg, has sent an 18-year-old activist to pretrial detention on a charge of repeatedly discrediting Russian armed forces involved in Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The hearing on the case against Darya Kozyreva on February 27 was held behind closed doors as investigators said the case materials may contain classified information.

Ha, yeah, sure.

The report continues,

Kozyreva was detained on February 24 . . . after she glued a poster on a monument of prominent Ukrainian writer, poet, and thinker Taras Shevchenko with an excerpt of his well-known poem “My Testament.”

“Oh bury me, then rise ye up
And break your heavy chains
And water with the tyrants’ blood
The freedom you have gained.”

The poster was so strongly glued that police were unable to remove it and had to cover it with a black plastic bag.

They had to cover it up with a black plastic bag — because God forbid any eyes should fall upon it. Spare a thought for young Darya Kozyreva.

• “Russia arrests US-Russian citizen on treason charges.” That is a headline in the Financial Times. The unfortunate woman is Ksenia Khavana. The report tells us,

Khavana is charged with sending $51.80 from her US bank account to Razom for Ukraine, a New York-based non-profit group, on the day President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Russia’s neighbour in 2022 . . .

Razom is a wonderful group, worthy of donations. (The name means “together.”) I know a young woman who works for Razom: Nana Gongadze. She is the daughter of Georgyi and Myroslava Gongadze. Myroslava works for the Voice of America. Georgyi was murdered in 2000, by a post-Soviet Ukrainian regime that was, in fact, Soviet in nature.

• Putin has plenty of allies: Iran, China, North Korea, Cuba, etc. It is an axis, or gang, of evil. Ukraine, under threat of extermination, needs allies too.

Peter Szijjártó is an interesting fellow. He is Orbán’s foreign minister, in Hungary. Late in 2021, when Putin was massing his forces on Ukraine’s border, Szijjártó received the Kremlin’s Order of Friendship. He received it from the hand of Putin himself.

Pretty cool, huh?

Here is the latest on the foreign minister:

. . . Szijjarto visited Tehran on Feb. 22, meeting his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and signing a trade deal in the agriculture and food industries.

Officials of NATO and EU countries rarely visit Iran as it remains one of the most sanctioned countries in the world due to its human rights record, nuclear program, and support for terrorist and militant groups abroad.

Tehran has provided extensive support to Moscow’s war against Ukraine, including Shahed kamikaze drones and reportedly even missiles. In turn, Budapest also maintains friendly relations with Russia and often bucks the united Western front on foreign policy issues.

Oh, yes. And frankly, that front is not so united: as witness the U.S. House. With worse, probably, to come.