- The Russian agency that monitors the internet was obsessed over dissident Alexey Nailny.
- The New York Times analysed a cache of Roskomnadzor records leaked by a hacker in an analysis. Thursday report
- These documents reveal the dedicated nature Putin’s surveillance apparatus.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s dedicated surveillance government obsessively tracks and targets Opposition leader imprisonedAccording to records from government agencies that were analyzed by, Alexey Navalny has been supported for many years by his friends The New York Times.
DDoSecrets, a nonprofit whistleblower group known for leaking hacked documents, in March published a trove of records from a regional office of Russia’s Roskomnadzor — the powerful federal agency tasked with Monitoring, controlling, and censoring Russian mass media.
The Times published Thursday’s sprawling analysis of nearly 160,000 records from Roskomnadzor’s Bashkortostan Office. It highlighted the authoritarian tactics Russia’s powerful internet regulator uses to keep control and curb dissent.
These documents provide a glimpse into Russia’s massive surveillance apparatus. According to the report they intercept phone calls, monitor internet use and promote disinformation.
The Times reported that Roskomnadzor’s Bashkortostan branch accelerated during the first weeks of war in Ukraine. The agency monitored online reactions to reports that Russians had protested the conflict and was met with detentions, or worse.
The agency tracked down a 24-year old political activist who posted an Instagram picture in protest of the war in Bashkortostan. According to the outlet, police later arrested her and kept her in jail overnight.
Laysan Sultangareyeva the detained demonstrator said she was intimidated and forced by police to submit to a drug test.
Even though they are only representative of one region in Russia, the Roskomnadzor records make it clear that authorities consider Navalny to be a threat.
A prominent Kremlin critic who is A Russian penal colony sentenced you to timeAfter being Convicted of fraud and contempt in courtRoskomnadzor workers devoted special attention to him. According to The Times, any articles, comments on social media, or websites in which his name appeared only in marginal links were flagged.
Roskomnadzor and other parts of Russia’s surveillance regime also targeted Navalny supporters, according to records. This agency was particularly interested in Lilia Chanysheva a 40 year-old lawyer and long-standing ally of Navalny, who established a regional office for dissidents in 2017.
According to The Times Chanysheva was a planner of demonstrations and offered legal help to those in need. However, she was also subject to random searches, arrests, and surveillance by Roskomnadzor.
The Bashkortostan office records show Chanysheva placed at the top a agency list that recommended people for further surveillance. According to The Times, a later spreadsheet detailing “leaders in opinion” included Chanysheva’s social media accounts, as well her follower totals.
The Kremlin declared Navalny’s organizations illegal extremist groups in April 2021. Many of his supporters fled the country. Chanysheva was able to stay and was taken into custody on extremism charges. She is still in detention, and faces a maximum of ten years imprisonment, just like Navalny.
