THOSE BASTARDS!!! Now, Vladimir Putin's Neo-Soviet Russia is Using the Draft as a Weapon against Dissidents
Filed under: Russia
One of the brightest lights of hope in Russia, such as the benighted country is these days, is a young man named Oleg Kozlovsky, leader of the youth opposition group Oborona ("Defense"). That's Oleg above, being arrested by some of dictator Vladimir Putin's goons during a protest march. Oleg is routinely tailed, bugged and harassed by the Kremlin's secret police and he struggles heroically to organize opposition to the neo-sovietization of Russia. My sources tell me that a few days ago the Kremlin orchestrated getting him fired as the latest act of retaliation for his valiant work. It's worth nothing that Oleg is also a blogger (Russian language).
Now, it's being reported (English language link) that Oleg has been Shanghaied (Russian language link) into the Russian army, infamous for its hazing rituals known as dedovshchina that have led to the deaths of many young military recruits. It's good news in the sense that Oleg now has clear proof that he's getting under the Kremlin's skin, and good news too in that if the world rallies to his cause he can leverage this thuggish action into real power, a pathway to becoming the Russian Mandela.
But immediate action must be taken by Western leaders to block the Kremlin from snuffing out the life of this magnificent Russian hero -- or indeed doing something even worse than killing him (one victim of dedovshchina had to have his genitals amputated). If the West does not act now, the Kremlin will take it as a signal that it can do as it pleases, and all hell will break loose in Russia.
This is the moment of truth.
It's outrageous enough that Russia, a country claiming to be benign and peaceful, is still practicing universal military conscription. But the use of that process selectively as a weapon against dissidents -- in the same way that the Kremlin uses selective enforcement of the tax code to harass businessmen like Mikhail Khodorkovsky -- must not be tolerated by the civilized world. In light of increasingly detailed reports about Vladimir Putin's personal corruption, these actions take on all the aspects of actual barbarism.
Putin's Russia has now crossed the Rubicon. We drive it back, or our children take the consequences. It's that simple.
Here is a translation of a Russian blog post about the incident:
Today on the 20th of December at 10 am the Oborona coordinator Oleg Kozlovsky was approached at his home entrance by police officers. Oleg was told that needed to go with them to the Military Affairs Bureau to settle some problems. Oleg was taken to the MAB office for Izmaylovsky District. Oleg is currently considered an officer since he holds an undergraduate degree from Moscow State University [the Russian Harvard]. He is now studying for his graduate degree and his the military ID is in process of being updated by the authorities to reflect that; his graduate study exempts him from service. The paperwork procedures can be used as an excuse for persecution and may explain his "problems" with MAB. Once he arrived, Oleg's documents were taken from him and he was forced to undergo an immediate physical, which he passed. The doctor said that he was healthy enough for service, though his father said that Oleg has very serious problem with feet that needs surgery. Staff were overheard stating that the MAB action was at FSB [KGB] instigation. At 2 pm Oleg called his mother. At 3 pm Oleg was taken out of the MAB office through the back door, apparently headed for the enlistment barracks. He sent SMS that read: "They are taking me somewhere." The license of the vehicle he left in was 73277 (a yellow plate). Most likely he was taken not as a officer but as a regular soldier. Lawyers of Moscow Helsinki Group have been informed and declared that MAB's actions were in violation of Oleg's rights as a Russian citizen.
Another report, from the major publication Yezhedevny Zhurnal, is here.