Reporters covering the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi have filed a stream of stories about security concerns, corruption, mismanagement, waste, and the injustices faced by Russian homosexuals. But too often lost in this flurry of reportage is the bigger picture of President Vladimir Putin's continued crackdown and human rights violations against Russians who would oppose him or his plans.
Two months ago, Putin launched a pre-Olympics charm offensive by releasing thousands of prisoners, many of whom had been in jail for political reasons. In December 2013, he signed into law an amnesty that released, among many others, the women of the art-collective "Pussy Riot" who had been imprisoned for ‘hooliganism,' as well as some protesters who had been charged after a May 2012 rally against Putin's inauguration for a third term as president. Days earlier, Putin suddenly and unexpectedly released his longtime foe Mikhail Khodorkovsky who had twice been convicted and jailed on charges that human rights groups considered politically motivated and falsified.
But many regard these moves as a smokescreen to deflect negative press before the Winter Olympics, an intensely personal project for Putin. Nadia Tolokonnikova, a Pussy Riot member who received amnesty, has said: "What‘s happening now amounts to some cosmetic measures-to release people who have only a couple of months left before the end of their prison terms, to release Khodorkovsky who also had only a little time left [before his regular release]-all of this is laughable. Such an amnesty should be of a much larger scale, then European countries could review their opinion regarding the Olympic Games."
Various human rights organizations have said the same, calling for the international community to take notice of the human rights abuses in Russia that even now continue. Yevgeny Vitishko, a member of the group Environmental Watch on North Caucasus that critically monitored Russian construction projects prior to the Winter Olympics, was recently sentenced to three years in jail. Another member of that group has fled to Estonia. Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption activist and former candidate for Moscow mayor, again faces criminal charges, this time for money laundering. In Yekaterinburg, journalist Aksana Panova was convicted of extortion and banned from working for two years.
The atmosphere in Sochi itself has been carefully designed to prevent any protest or dissent: Russians with a history of activism have been prevented from attending the games and the designated protest zone in Sochi is located under a bridge, 20 minutes away from anything Olympic. As Human Rights Watch's Jane Buchanan has written, "the FSB will be charged with doling out permissions for demonstrations. That's hardly an open invitation to those striving to have their voices heard."
Although President Putin has spent billions in order to have the eyes of the world upon Russia for two weeks, he does not welcome actual scrutiny, especially from Russian investigative journalists. Amid the Olympic hubbub, Putin has taken the opportunity to crack down on Russia's only independent television station, TV Rain. Cable providers throughout the country have been pressured to drop the liberal-leaning channel from their packages and, one by one, they have done so. At the same time, there are whisperings that a key independent-minded radio station, Echo of Moscow, may come under the control of The Voice of Russia. Legal measures against bloggers have more than doubled in the past year.
Putin has carefully calculated his moves. Although the international media will cover athletes, accommodations, and terror threats, there is little interest in the fate of independent broadcasters and bloggers, or on Sochi's jailed environmental activists.
Once the Olympics are over, many expect that the crackdown will only get worse. When the world turns its gaze away from Sochi, many Russian activists fear that they too will be forgotten. The United States and those who value human freedoms must work to ensure that this does not happen. Just as Putin's fervor for persecuting those who oppose him has certainly not faded, neither must American support for those who wish to exercise their basic human rights.
