Summary
Highlights
The arrest and imprisonment of Alexei Navalny upon his return to Russia highlight Vladimir Putin's strategy of severe repression against opponents and indifference to Western protests. This reveals the centralization and personalization of power in Russia and the country's complicated relationship with human rights. Russia, with its authoritarian tradition, has long seen restrictions on liberties as commonplace and views human rights differently from the West.
Russia's immense size, being the largest country in the world with 17 million square kilometers, 11 time zones, and a low population density of 145 million inhabitants, has two main consequences for human rights. Firstly, monitoring human rights in remote Siberian regions is challenging. Secondly, a long-standing political priority has been to forge and maintain national cohesion. With over a hundred different ethnic groups, largely dominated by 82% ethnically Russians, the focus is on a national identity centered around Russians, often at the expense of other populations' rights and by designating foreigners as enemies. This priority often overshadows human rights concerns.
The concept of human rights is relatively new in Russia's authoritarian history, where efficiency and security have always been prioritized. This legacy stems from imperial and tsarist traditions and continued under Soviet communism, which viewed human rights as merely formal and theoretical, secondary to 'real rights' like work, food, and social protection. Marxist ideology also placed individual rights behind the collective, class struggle, and egalitarianism. The notion of human rights only truly emerged in Russia after the fall of the USSR. Freedom of conscience appeared in the 1993 constitution, and Russia ratified the European Convention on Human Rights in 1998. However, Russian political and religious figures quickly criticized this preeminence, arguing it impeded Russia's progress and security. The weight of tradition and history remains significant.
In practice, the human rights situation in Russia is dire. Statistics from the European Court of Human Rights show Russia has the most complaints, far exceeding Turkey and Ukraine. Issues include individual freedoms, religious freedom, protest bans, freedom of association, domestic violence, unfair trials, police brutality, LGBTQ+ rights limitations, and emblematic cases like the murders of journalist Anna Politkovskaïa and activist Natalia Estemirova. Press freedom is particularly concerning, with Russia ranking 149th, 47 journalists killed in 30 years, constant intimidation, and state-controlled television. Since 2002, laws have been adopted to restrict liberties, with Article 212 of the penal code used to punish participation in unauthorized gatherings. Arguments of state security, foreign interference, extremism, and terrorism are used for politically motivated prosecutions. Internet freedom and dissenting opinions are also curtailed, with criticism of the state or 'fake news' now heavily penalized. Despite being a signatory of international human rights texts and a member of the Council of Europe, these obligations remain largely theoretical.
Economic interests often supersede human rights in Russia, a situation not unique to Russia. Numerous cases of human rights abuses exist in the business world, such as Sergei Magnitsky, who died in prison after investigating collusion between criminals and public figures, and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an oligarch imprisoned for 10 years and then exiled. Commercial disputes are often transformed into politically motivated criminal trials, as seen with the ongoing trial of French banker Philippe Delpal. In these contexts, human rights are disregarded.
The current autocratic, ultracentralized, and personalized power structure under Vladimir Putin, who has been in power for 20 years and could remain for another 15, significantly impacts human rights. Putin's philosophy, similar to Stalin's, emphasizes his personal authority over the law. He directly appoints the head of the Russian Human Rights Council and federal judges, leaving no room for independent human rights protection. The primary goal is to restore Russian grandeur and maintain power. Russian society is not homogeneous; it is divided by contradictory currents. The weight of tradition and education instills fatalism and obedience, along with a fear of venturing too far. The Russian Orthodox Church also opposes secularism and freedom of conscience, seeking to impose its own human rights norms. However, a segment of society, particularly young people in large cities, aspires to greater freedom. Russia is not a total dictatorship; civil society exists and can achieve successes in areas like the environment or press freedom, often mobilizing through social media. However, as soon as the government feels threatened, as in the Navalny case, repression follows. For all these reasons, the Western concept of human rights has yet to firmly establish itself in Russia and is unlikely to do so soon.