Several high-ranking officials in the Kremlin and Russian regions wanted to resign but were prevented from leaving their posts, according to the independent publication IStories. CNN.

IStories is a Russian online investigative news channel run by renowned journalist Roman Anin, who has said his sources include acquaintances of high-ranking officials in the Presidential Administration.

Aninn told CNN that he did not know how many people tried to leave their positions but were not allowed to. “However, I know concrete examples of those who tried to resign. These are the governors, [de la] security forces and people from the presidential administration,” he said.

The journalist refused to give his name to protect his sources.

Russian officials who want to resign are threatened with criminal cases and intimidated

IStories reported that a former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer told him he knew of “at least two cases where governors tried to leave their posts,” but the Presidential Administration’s Air Force prevented them from leaving and hinted that criminal charges would be filed. be filed against them.

There is no way to verify the claims, and Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov told CNN on Tuesday that reports that senior officials are barred from resigning during a “special military operation” — as Moscow cites the war in Ukraine — are “such a farce.” .

Aninn said the policy is not official and has never been put in writing. “There can be no refusals or written recommendations, because the ban is illegal. Everything happens informally. The governor of the region is resigning, he is being called to the internal policy department, he is being intimidated, called a traitor and threatened with criminal cases if he insists,” he said.

According to the presidential decree, contract servicemen (and this is the majority of FSB employees) cannot leave even after the end of the contract.

The ban serves two purposes, Aninn said. If many people leave, public administration can become unmanageable, so the ban will “prevent a loss of control,” he said, adding that another goal is to “show the people and subordinates that the government is one, that everyone is one.” in place, and no one escapes.’

Life imprisonment for “treason” and “international terrorism”

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree in April increasing the maximum penalty for treason to life in prison as part of efforts to crack down on dissent after the war in Ukraine began last year.

The Kremlin is trying to suppress any form of dissent. A couple dining at a restaurant in the Russian city of Krasnodar were detained by police after another customer called police to complain that the two young men had expressed their opposition to the war in a private conversation.

In December, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained 19-year-old student Olesya Kryvtsova. Two of her classmates wrote complaints about her.

Russian officials listed Olesya Kryvtsova as a terrorist and extremist group along with ISIS, al-Qaeda and the Taliban after she posted an Instagram message about the Crimean Bridge bombing last October in which she, like Russia, criticized the invasion of Ukraine.

Civil society organizations are demanding the repeal of a law that prevents people from speaking out against the war

Russian human rights organizations filed complaints with the Constitutional Court demanding the repeal of the law that prohibits people from speaking out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

OVD-Info, one of the NGOs involved, said on Tuesday that the goal is to repeal Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which prohibits “public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation to protect the interests of the Russian Federation.”

“This article should not exist at all because it prohibits criticizing the state, which is unacceptable in a democratic society,” OVD-Info lawyer Violetta Fitzner told Reuters.

So far, authorities have registered 6,561 cases under Article 20.3.3, OVD-Info reports, including against people who held individual anti-war demonstrations, posted their views on the Internet, or wore anti-war symbols on their clothing.

We will remind, the well-known oppositionist Volodymyr Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison for treason and spreading false information about the army – three times more than any sentence previously imposed for speaking out against the war.

Since the beginning of March last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin has promulgated a law prohibiting the spread of “false information” about the country’s armed forces.

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