The type of pro-Kremlin figures who are rewarded by the regime for their loyalty are now finding themselves targeted by the very repressive machinery they supported, reports The Guardian. The British publication presents the case of three fervent followers of Vladimir Putin who have become overnight enemies of the state.
Recently, an analyst who praised Putin in glowing terms in the foreign press, a fervent pro-war blogger, and a volunteer and commentator for the RT network, were declared “foreign agents,” a term reserved for dissidents and exiled opponents.
Political analyst Serghei Markov hailed Vladimir Putin as one of the great personalities of history in his appearances in the foreign press. Yet he ended up increasing the number of those considered an anti-Putin voice. The same goes for blogger Roman Aliohin, who enthusiastically got involved in fundraising for the Russian army after the outbreak of the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
The most recent case is that of Tatiana Montian, a Ukrainian-born commentator, who was designated last week as a “terrorist and extremist”. The label is very harsh, being applied only to those considered the regime’s greatest enemies, such as the team of the late opponent Alexei Navalny.
Moscow has offered no official explanation for these measures – at first glance, the cases are different.
However, analysts believe that a new phase of repression is taking shape – this time targeting even supporters of the regime, as rival factions begin to fight each other.
“In the first phase, they targeted anti-war voices. Now these have disappeared, and the repressive machine can no longer be stopped,” estimates Russian political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann.
In the case of Markov, who was known to have relations with the political elites in Azerbaijan, one theory is that he fell from grace after relations between Moscow and Baku dramatically deteriorated.
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