The Putin regime has launched an active campaign against the Free Russia Forum. In distant Syktyvkar, the capital of the Komi Republic, FSS officers are preparing a criminal case to recognize the Forum as a terrorist organization. We are aware of the inevitability of this course of events, because the tough, decisive and consistent position of our organization could not go unnoticed by the Kremlin, which has destroyed all opposition inside the country and now seeks to intimidate its opponents abroad.
However, they will not be able to silence us. The Free Russia Forum will continue its activities. We have made the right choice, having moved the center of organization of our work outside of Russia, keeping our actions independent from the Kremlin and uncontrolled by it. This has become especially relevant in the conditions of war, when the possibility of open criticism of the ruling regime and the war unleashed by it remains only outside the domain of the Kremlin tyrant.
Our slogan: “Victory to Ukraine! Freedom to Russia!” – is becoming more and more relevant, especially against the background of the Kursk operation of the AFU, which showed that the military machine of Putin’s Russia is not so strong, and the course of the war is not so predictable. The outcome of the war is still unclear, but our position remains unchanged. We consistently advocate the defeat of Putin’s army in Ukraine and the complete dismantling of Putin’s regime in Moscow. We appeal to other sections of the Russian political emigration to join us and make their best contribution to the common struggle, thus bringing our common victory closer.
The persecution of our comrades continues in Russia. Today it became known that a new criminal case has been opened against our colleague Aleksandr Skobov under the article “justification of terrorism”. And this is despite the fact that Skobov is already in prison on other charges, including those related to his participation in the Free Russia Forum. On August 30, another Forum participant, publisher and founder of the newspaper Listok, Sergei Mikhailov, was sentenced. Putin’s “court” sentenced Mikhailov to eight years’ imprisonment for telling the truth about Russian army atrocities in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, published in his newspaper. The pressure on Alexei Gorinov, against whom a new absurd criminal case was recently brought for “justifying terrorism” for talking to other prisoners in the colony, continues unabated. Until recently, Gorinov was kept in torture conditions: in a solitary cell with mice, without a blanket, with a constantly open window and without any communication with people.
Obviously, direct, public condemnation of Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine is the gravest “crime” in the eyes of Putin’s gang, and participation in the Free Russia Forum is seen as an aggravating circumstance in carrying out political repression in Russia. People like Skobov, Gorinov and Mikhailov are unlikely to be on the prisoner exchange lists. Instead, new charges and the heaviest pressure of the repressive system await them.
It is also clear that not all of these political prisoners are equally acceptable to the servile liberal crowd. The same Aleksandr Skobov, who has taken a consistently radical stance, including direct support for the AFU and Russian volunteers fighting against Putinism in Ukraine and recognizing the right to resist Putin’s regime by force, does not receive as much attention from the liberal press as many other political prisoners.
We express our protest against the persecution of our comrades and call on the entire Russian political exile to support these people and start a campaign for their release. The enormous power of numerous Russian opposition media outlets and the personal prominence of opposition opinion leaders should be directed, among other things, to support these people, who can be called prisoners of conscience without exaggeration.
We also declare that we will not forget those who carry out repression against our comrades. All those responsible for their persecution, including the FSS “experts”, witnesses, investigators, judges and prosecutors involved in the cases of Skobov, Gorinov and Mikhailov, will be identified and added to the Putin’s List for their further inclusion in the sanctions lists of the countries of the Free World. Lustration, fair trial and imminent retribution await them in the future free Russia.
August 31, 2024.
