Kozlovsky Makes the MSM
Filed under: Russia
Three weeks ago, we told you the outrageous story of Oleg Kozlovsky (shown above in the embrace of two fans of Vladimir Putin), shanghaied into the Russian army to stop him from criticizing the neo-Sovietization of his country by dictator Vladimir Putin. I followed up with a more detailed overview a few days later on Pajamas Media.
Now, at long last, the mainstream media has gotten around to reporting these events, specifically the Chicago Tribune via reporter Alex Rodriguez. The story has also been translated into Russian and is circulating on their wire service. The only prior MSM mention of the incident I'm aware of was a brief blurb in the Economist on December 28th, undoubtedly due to the continuing brilliant work of their Russia expert, Edward Lucas.
The Tribune states:
Oleg Kozlovsky has needled the Kremlin for two years, heading up an opposition youth movement, helping organize rallies against President Vladimir Putin and criticizing the regime in a Russian-language blog he puts out. Now Russian authorities have finally found a way to silence him.They drafted him.
Kozlovsky is legally exempt from conscription and has the documents to prove it. Nevertheless, on Dec. 20 police waited for him to leave his Moscow apartment, hauled him off to an enlistment office, and within 48 hours shuffled him off to a nearby military base where for a year he'll serve in a Russian army notorious for its brutality to conscripts.
The story was published two days ago, and seemingly hasn't yet been picked up by other MSM outlets, which only goes to further demonstrate their increasing obsolescence. It's an outrage that it takes us so long to respond to urgent matters of this kind, where lives hang in the balance. According to the website of his opposition group, Oborona, Kozlovsky has been spirited away from his home in Moscow to the city of Ryazan, but has forced the military officials there to give him a medical examination to verify his disability. He's obtained written confirmation that he is medically fit for military service only during time of war, but has still not been discharged, with the Kremlin squirming to impose additional medical analysis and other forms of bureaucratic torture while Kozlovsky remains in the Army's clutches. We could wake up tomorrow and read that he's been killed in any manner of "accident" or, worse, subjected to the vicious form of military hazing that is rife in Russia and has led one soldier to have his genitals amputated.
And if we do, our MSM will be just as much responsible as the Kremlin itself. If you read a newspaper that hasn't reported this story, you need to ask yourself what else you are missing, and to consider writing a letter to their editor demanding something better.
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