海角大神

The聽prison sentence imposed a year ago on leading Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny聽was a severe blow to Russia鈥檚 opposition 鈥� and then the situation got worse.

Over the past 12 months, scores of activists, independent journalists, and rights advocates were targeted with raids, detained, and designated as terrorists and foreign agents.

鈥淟egal opposition politics in Russia ended almost entirely,鈥� said Irina Fatyanova, former head of Mr. Navalny鈥檚 office in St. Petersburg, who has fled the country.

The setbacks began when Mr. Navalny was arrested in January 2021 upon returning from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from nerve-agent poisoning he blames on the Kremlin. His jailing triggered Russia鈥檚 largest wave of protests in years, followed by mass detentions.

Then on Feb. 2, 2021, a court ordered Mr. Navalny to serve 2陆 years in prison over parole violations stemming from a 2014 suspended sentence in a fraud case Mr. Navalny insists was politically motivated.

The multi-pronged crackdown on dissenting voices was unprecedented in post-Soviet Russia.

鈥淩epressions have always been used during Putin鈥檚 tenure, but they were supplementary鈥� to other efforts that targeted the political process directly, such as elections and propaganda, political analyst Abbas Gallyamov said. 鈥淭he situation drastically changed last year.鈥�

In recent weeks, the government has again turned up the heat on Mr. Navalny and his team, adding him and his associates to the state registry of terrorists and extremists and petitioning to imprison his brother.

The authorities on Tuesday also ordered independent media outlets to take down dozens of stories based on Mr. Navalny鈥檚 multiple exposures of corruption among government officials.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has insisted that no prosecutions in Russia are politically motivated.

Initially, Mr. Gallyamov said, the pressure on opposition activists and media outlets critical of the Kremlin was turned up because of聽the September 2021 parliamentary election, which was widely seen as key to Mr. Putin鈥檚 effort to cement his hold on power.

After聽the vote went the Kremlin鈥檚 way, the authorities saw no reason to stop tightening the screws on dissent. 鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to get the steamroller of repressions rolling. It鈥檚 hard to stop it,鈥� Mr. Gallymov said.

Mr. Navalny鈥檚 associates, especially those who announced they were running for parliament, faced a flurry of criminal charges during the period preceding the election.

His closest allies, Ivan Zhdanov and Leonid Volkov, who had left the country, were put on a wanted list in connection with multiple criminal charges. In March, Mr. Zhdanov鈥檚 father, a former municipal official in Russia鈥檚 northern Nenets region, was arrested on abuse-of-office charges widely seen as politically motivated.

Oleg Stepanov, former head of Mr. Navalny鈥檚 office in Moscow, had to run his campaign for the State Duma from under house arrest after he was charged with violating coronavirus regulations by calling for unauthorized protests over Mr. Navalny鈥檚 arrest. The case also ensnared Mr. Navalny鈥檚 brother Oleg, spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh, longtime ally Lyubov Sobol, and several other activists.

Mr. Stepanov could communicate with the outside world only through his girlfriend and his lawyers. He was eventually barred from the race, just like the vast majority of opposition candidates, and handed parole-like restrictions in the virus-related case.

Ms. Sobol, who also sought refuge abroad, counted four criminal cases against her in 2021.

鈥淚 was convicted in two criminal cases. Two more were launched against me. I was deemed a member of an extremist group. My team was pushed out of the country, and some two months I spent under house arrest,鈥� she said.

In the most crushing blow to Mr. Navalny鈥檚 team, authorities outlawed the Foundation for Fighting Corruption and its nearly 40 regional offices across the country in June 2021. The designation as an extremist organization exposed associates and supporters to prosecution and barred them from running for public office.

Several former coordinators of the regional offices were detained on extremism charges late last year.

Mr. Stepanov left Russia after the election to study and hoped to return after getting a degree, but the arrest of one of the regional coordinators made him rethink that.

鈥淚 underestimated the risk and left temporarily, but now I understand that it is for an indefinite amount of time,鈥� he said. He was put on a wanted list last week.

Other opposition groups suffered similar troubles. Open Russia, financed by Russian tycoon and Putin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, disbanded in late May, fearing persecution of its members under a law that bans 鈥渦ndesirable鈥� organizations. Several days after the group ceased to exist,聽its leader, Andrei Pivovarov, was jailed.

Authorities charged him with running an 鈥渦ndesirable鈥� organization, even though Open Russia had ceased to exist by the time a case against Mr. Pivovarov was opened. If convicted, he could spend up to six years in prison.

Tatyana Usmanova, a close ally of Mr. Pivovarov and former campaign manager in his run聽for the State Duma last year, said the scale of the crackdown was hard to anticipate.

But as pressure mounted on Mr. Navalny鈥檚 organizations, it became clear that the authorities 鈥渇ear those who can rally hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people and coordinate them somehow, direct them at something,鈥� Ms. Usmanova said.

The crackdown also extended to dozens of media outlets, individual journalists and rights groups. They were labeled 鈥渇oreign agents鈥� 鈥� a designation that invites excessive government scrutiny and connotations that discredit the recipient. Some were also declared undesirable or accused of ties with undesirable organizations.

Four independent news sites shut down, and at least two rights groups disbanded.

Separately, at the end of 2021,聽Russia鈥檚 Supreme Court shut down Memorial, the country鈥檚 oldest and most prominent human rights organization, citing violations of the foreign agents law.

Meduza, Russia鈥檚 most popular independent news outlet based in Latvia,聽was the first in 2021 to receive the foreign agent designation. Alexei Kovalev, its investigative editor, said the outlet immediately started losing advertisers and sources.

Just like other organizations with the same designation, Meduza was obligated to put a cumbersome 24-word disclaimer in large print disclosing its status as a foreign agent on every piece of content it produces. Absence of the disclaimer might result in crippling fines.

Meduza managed to rally a hefty crowdfunding campaign among its readers. As the list of foreign-agent media grew, the designation started to lose its power, Mr. Kovalev said.

Advertisers who want to reach 鈥渁 quality audience鈥� will have to advertise in a foreign-agent outlet 鈥渂ecause there are no longer any non-agents out there,鈥� he said.

Opposition activists refuse to admit defeat. Ms. Sobol told The Associated Press that members of Mr. Navalny鈥檚 team 鈥渟till make it work,鈥� despite being persecuted and chased out of the country.

鈥淲e post investigations. We do organizational work, and we see a strong support in the Russian society that hasn鈥檛 shrunk,鈥� she said.

Ms. Usmanova said activists from Open Russia continued their efforts even after the group ceased to exist 鈥� some ran in local elections, others campaigned for various causes.

It would be impossible for authorities to stifle all critical voices, especially on the internet and social media, and with growing awareness of the country鈥檚 dire situation, Ms. Usmanova said.

鈥淓ven in the Soviet Union,鈥� she said, 鈥渢hey failed to throw all those who dissented into prison and silence them.鈥�

This story was reported by The Associated Press.聽Mitya Osipov contributed to this report.