Russian justice accuses Mikhail Kasianov of having “opposed the special military operation in Ukraine”.
Mikhail Kasianov is now on the list of “foreign agents”, an infamous term reminiscent of “enemy of the people” from the Soviet era.
Russian justice accuses Mikhail Kasianov of having “opposed the special military operation in Ukraine”, of having left Russia and of being “a member of the Russian Anti-War Committee, an association whose activities aim to discredit Russian foreign and domestic policy.
This “committee”, with very limited activities, was created in 2022 abroad by several Russian opponents including the ex-oligarch in exile Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Prime minister of President Putin during his first years in power, from 2000 to 2004, Mikhail Kasianov then became very critical of the Russian president.
In June 2022, he told AFP that he no longer recognized the Vladimir Putin with whom he had worked, saying he hoped that Russia would one day return to a “democratic path”.
Before the Ukraine offensive, Mikhail Kasianov led the People’s Freedom Party (PARNAS), a small liberal party. He announced in June 2022 that he had left Russia.
The status of “foreign agent” imposes heavy administrative constraints on the persons or entities concerned, including regular monitoring of their sources of financing. It also requires that any publication, including on social networks, be accompanied by the “foreign agent” label.
Russian power has stepped up its repression of any dissident voice since the launch of its offensive against Ukraine in February 2022. As elections loom in March, almost all of Vladimir Putin’s major opponents are in prison or in exile abroad.
Additional sources • AFP, AP
