Censorship and self-censorship in Russia

The level of state control over what citizens say and write in Moscow today is now greater than it was in the Soviet Union before Gorbachev. Every police officer, traffic warden or judge adheres to this line; everyone understands that one can no longer speak of politics or criticise those in power, and even the most innocuous expressions are monitored.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - In addition to the blocking of the internet and messaging apps, the pressure of outright censorship is increasing in Russia, and one can end up in prison for posts on any subject, covering any aspect of personal or social life.

For example, the chorus of the song by the band Anacondaz, “Mum, I love you”, has been censored on the Jandex.Musica service; it can now only be heard with long pauses of silence, as the words “drug trafficking”, “cocaine”, “Satan” and even the phrase “I betrayed my country” have been bleeped out.

In Japanese comic books (manga), entire pages are coloured out, and no one is surprised anymore that whole chapters have been deleted from many books.

A council of experts has also been set up to monitor content in the multimedia sphere of the internet, books and films, particularly regarding the “interpretation of history” in accordance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with lecturers from the Moscow State Pedagogical University (Mgpu) and the Moscow Academy of Sciences.

Of course, there is no shortage of constant attempts to censor messages on social media too, even if they do not contain content relating to politics, war or other prohibited topics. A resident of the Altai region in Siberia received a visit from the police after posting a video about flooding in the area.

According to data from Reporters Without Borders, Russia now ranks 162nd out of 180 countries in terms of freedom of expression. Professor Andrej Richter, of Kamensky University in Bratislava, commented on this situation for Radio Svoboda, noting that “what is happening today is nothing more than the consequence of what began in 2022”.

According to Richter, the level of state control over what citizens say and write is now greater than that of the Soviet Union before Gorbachev. It all began even before the conflict with Ukraine, with the controversies surrounding Covid and the desire to consolidate the Kremlin’s power.

Meanwhile, technology has advanced, offering the possibility to discuss any topic without limits on a global scale. The crackdown began in the late 2010s, reaching its peak after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022: “Everyone understands that you can no longer talk about politics or criticise those in power, and even the most innocuous expressions are monitored,” recalls the expert.

It all began with the online publication of images of Ukrainian bombings or other attacks on Russian territory, the intention being not to provide information that could be used by the West.

In Soviet times, the same rule applied: not to disseminate news of any negative events within the country, be they accidents, disasters, epidemics, arrests or anything else that might cast a shadow over the situation in the country. Now information flows freely across the internet without borders, and not only circulates abroad but also creates anxiety among Russian citizens themselves, such as reports of floods.

Censorship is not merely imposed from above, by central authorities; anyone in Russia today involved in any way with public order, even at a local level, is aware that they must increasingly restrict the freedom of expression at all levels, and the more they do so, the greater their prospects for career advancement and for being seen as a ‘defender of the Fatherland’.

Any police officer, traffic warden or judge adheres to this oppressive line without needing to receive written orders, and this climate has now permeated the consciousness of all citizens, who adapt to self-censorship without even needing explicit threats.

A privileged position is held by the voenkory, the ‘war correspondents’ or Z-Bloggers, who enjoy greater freedom, even to criticise the actions of military and political leaders, pushing for a more decisive victory on the battlefield; yet even they must be careful not to cross certain boundaries, such as that of ‘discrediting the armed forces’.

The Russian constitution does, however, affirm freedom of expression, but with a particular interpretation, such as that expressed by the Human Rights Ombudsman, Valery Fadeev: in his theory of the ‘transfiguration of humanism’, only in Russia are rights truly defended, and certainly not in the West, where ‘anyone can manipulate them’, whilst in Eurasia they are exalted by the affirmation of every person’s ‘traditional and cultural rights’.