Received 13/03/2019
The Russian state has escalated recently its repressive attack on the anarchist movement. A barrage of kidnappings-arrests and torturing of anarchist comrades, who are charged of belonging to armed organizations, with some of the cases in the last year being
- The network case
- The case of the anarchist Vyatcheslav Lukichev
- The case of the anarchist Kirill Kuzminkin
- The case of the anarchist from Crimea Evgeniy Karakashev
- The case of the anarchist Azat Miftahov who is charged with participation in Narodnaya Samooborona
These specific moves don’t surprise anybody since it’s a tactic often uses by the Russian state against its political enemies, minorities and members of the LGBTQI community. Demonstrations are repressed, political opponents are imprisoned, fascist groups are promoted while the kidnappings and the tortures by the FSB (the continuation of the KGB) are a frequent phenomenon.
Some of the latest prosecutions are the charges and arrests of 10 persons at the beginning of February, who are charged with conspiracy. The 9 of them are set free, while Azat Miftahov is charged with construction of explosives and participation in the organization (Peoples Self-Defense). In another case the anarchist Daniil Galkin disappeared (his lawyer and his comrades couldn’t find him for hours), was tortured for hours till he was forced to publicly appear on a staged interview for the federal TV channel Perviy Canal that he will co-operate with the police and give information on the Russian anarchist movement. He stated that during his detention he saw Azat and that the signs of torture where visible on him. This practice of confessions is not something new but a practice used from the past, since it was used already in the 1930s.
The state continues
From the era of the Tsars till the era of the USSR and the supremacy of the Communist Party of the Bolsheviks, the Russian state was pretty harsh against all those who dared to question its power.
The dominant block which rallies around V. Putin from the beginning of 2000 continues the tradition of its predecessors. Following a policy based on the spreading of nationalist and militaristic speech, the intensive preparation for war, the support of neo-Nazi groups, the repression of all those who resist, migrants, homosexuals, he tends to terrorize all those who resist or don’t comply with the dominant norm
The struggle goes on
Even when the enemy is powerful, whichever regime is in power, the struggle which has never stopped in the past will not stop now. From the riots of the villagers and the revolution of 1905 till the execution of the Tsar, from the revolution of 1917 and the insurgency of Kronstadt till the attempt against Lenin and the bombs at the headquarters of the Bolsheviks. From the riots at the gulags and the resistance against the Stalinist regime till the confrontational demonstrations today, the hard antifascist struggle, the attacks, the persistence of the Russian anarchists who continue the thread of the race against any state, every exploitation and power. From the revolutionary moments of yesterday to the frontlines of today, our comrades continue with consistency to fight on.
In this struggle we are with them. Through action, dialogue and the exchange of experiences and ways of thinking, we bridge the distances
Comrades in Russia
You are not alone. Through solidarity, we march together on the road of the persistent conflict. Together in the struggle for the global revolution and anarchy
War against states in the whole world
