Russia's clampdown on dissent will harden
Since Putin's 2012 return to the Kremlin, Russia has ramped up laws to constrain civil society
Source: Media outlets, Oxford Analytica, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders
Outlook
President Vladimir Putin is currently riding high in the polls with an 86% approval rating but the Kremlin's concern about the prospect of a 'colour' or Ukraine-style 'Maidan' revolution is leading to a growing clampdown on civil society and the media.
Such measures include the 'foreign agents' law, which requires all non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are engaged in loosely defined political activity and which receive funding from abroad to register as 'foreign agents', the 2015 'undesirables' law and legislation making the deaths of Russian military personnel in peacetime a secret.
Impacts
- 'Undesirables' law will hamper domestic civil society contact with international NGOs.
- Classifying military deaths in peacetime a secret will make it harder for journalists to report on Russian military activity in Ukraine.
- NGOs engaging in political activity and with any foreign funding will be placed on 'foreign agents' list before 2016 parliamentary polls