When Russia launched its war on Ukraine, hundreds of Russians took to the streets.
It is estimated that more than 100,000 Russian professionals have already left their homeland, fearing persecution for their criticism of the Kremlin. Journalists, researchers, IT specialists, artists, and actors are fleeing to Georgia, the Baltic states, Turkey, or Germany.
All over Russia, state employees are being intimidated.
They are told that anyone who is against the war is against the state — and must voluntarily resign. Recently, a threat directed at high school principals came from the Duma itself, the lower house of the Russian parliament.
Its chairman, Vyacheslav Volodin, declared: "This is about the security of our state. About the future of our country. So, tolerance notwithstanding, the honorable principals should be aware of their responsibilities. If they aren't, they should just go. Stand up and walk away."
Konstantin Mikhailov, a well-known young historian and theologian, explained that, "More and more things are being banned," he said. "More and more, the state power is meddling with history, while at the same time its knowledge of it is very poor. This why I wanted to be at a safe distance when speaking even about innocuous things." Things that used to be innocuous are apparently no longer considered so by the Russian authorities. The focus of Mikhailov's research is the Russian Orthodox Church; his specialist field is gender issues and homosexuality. Research in this area is now risky, Mikhailov explains. He is currently working on a book about new religious movements in Russia, which more and more are being declared extremist.
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