Putin, ten years of fierce repression in Russia in four infographics

The repression of Putin’s opponents is not new, but it has intensified with the war in Ukraine, pushing many Russians to go into exile. Opponents of the conflict who have not left the country are hunted down by the authorities. According to the NGO OVD-Info, 19,478 people have been arrested in Russia for their anti-war positions since the start of the invasion on February 24, 2022. The infamous label “foreign agent” has meanwhile been used massively by the Russian authorities since 2012 against organizations, opponents and journalists accused of carrying out political activities financed abroad. This imprecise concept made it possible to target many groups critical of the regime. L’Express returns in four infographics on ten years of fierce repression since the return to power of Vladimir Putin.

Following the invasion of Ukraine, OVD-Info counted more than 8,500 administrative detentions of women accused of anti-war positions. Since the announcement of the mobilization in September, they are more numerous than the men to demonstrate and be arrested. The infographic below shows the percentage of women arrested during public protests.

On the Internet, 9208 sites have been subjected to “military censorship” since the invasion. In total, more than 210,000 web pages were blocked in 2022, according to the independent project “Roskomsvoboda”.