Russia wants to ban a ‘separatist movement’ that doesn’t exist (The Moscow Times)

Russia is trying to declare it extremist and ban the “Anti-Russian Separatist Movement,” writes The Moscow Times, which notes that there is no such organization registered in Russia.

The Supreme Court of Russia will debate on June 7 the Ministry of Justice’s request to declare the anti-Russian separatist movement extremist, whose aim is to “destroy the multinational unity and territorial integrity of Russia.”

The independent website OVD-Info, which reported on the request of the Ministry of Justice, writes that it was unable to find an official organization called “Anti-Russian Separatist Movement”.

Observers speculated that the designation of the “separatist movement” as extremist could actually target any anti-war activists or those campaigning for the rights of indigenous minorities.

Last year, Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office banned the anti-imperial movement the League of Free Nations and the post-Russia Forum of Free Peoples, which campaigned for the disintegration of Russia, as “undesirable” organizations.

Earlier, the Supreme Court banned as extremist the equally non-existent “international public LGBT movement” and the “Ya/My Furgal movement”, which supports the former governor of the Khabarovsk region in the Far East.

The ban on the “LGBT movement” in November 2023 led to a general crackdown on public manifestations of LGBTQ+ identity and lifestyle, The Moscow Times also states.

Publisher: BP

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