The State Duma of the Russian Federation discussed a bill on seizing financial assets, including property, from residents of Russia who openly criticize the Russian army and the war against Ukraine.
The repression against critics of the war is intensifying in Russia
The UK Intelligence summary notes that several Russian writers and musicians have recently been convicted for criticising the war.
British intelligence recalls that in 2022, Putin signed changes to the 2012 Foreign Agents Act, which was widely used to crack down on opponents of the regime. As of November 3, 2023, the total list of "foreign agents" was 707 people.
According to British intelligence, "foreign agents" include independent Russian news agencies and human rights organisations, many of which were forced to operate outside of Russia.
This legislation highly likely seeks to deter and silence anti-war opposition. This recent bill in conjuction with with the Foreigh Affairs, likely intends to resctirct criticism of the war altogether, the British Ministry of Defense says.
The number of dissatisfied Russians is constantly growing
The British MOD representatives note that on November 7, the wives of the Russian occupiers dared to organise and hold a public street protest in Moscow.
It is the first since the beginning of the full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war.
British intelligence officers noted that protesters gathered in the centre of Theater Square and unfurled posters with the demand to take their loved ones, who were participating in the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, away from the front line.
Although the police dispersed the rally very quickly, the anger of the citizens of the Russian Federation did not decrease.
It is also impossible to ignore the fact that during the last 20 months of the war in Russian social networks, the wives of Russian soldiers did not stop complaining about the lack of rotation and the shameful conditions of being on the battlefield.
However, Russian legislation does not yet allow relatives of servicemen to unite in an influential lobbying force, as soldiers' mothers did during the USSR's intervention in Afghanistan in the 1980s, says the British MOD report.
