(Adnkronos) – Russian authorities have begun to freeze the bank accounts of prominent figures who have left the country in recent years, in implementation of a law passed last July to “strengthen the security of Russia’s infrastructure,” operating solely on the basis of “suspicion of a person’s involvement in sabotage activities.” No formal accusation against the suspect is required, nor is the opening of legal proceedings.
So far, about a hundred people have been affected by the measure – although only 15-20 still had assets in Russian accounts. Almost all are involved in the ‘Dar’ literary prize or the SlovoNovo initiative, recently designated a foreign agent, conceived in 2018 by curator Marat Gelman, who has been a foreign agent since 2021, and since 2024 is also an extremist. Among them are the poet Anna Russ and two other people who are not considered ‘foreign agents’ or ‘extremists’ and against whom no legal proceedings have been opened, whose names do not appear on the list compiled by the Financial Monitoring Service where the names of ‘extremists and terrorists’ are listed.
As denounced by political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann, who moved to Berlin where she teaches at the Osteuropa Institut Freie Universitat, in her program ‘Status’, a ‘secret list’ has been informally compiled. People placed on it do not receive any form of notification. The measure is implemented by a mixed Commission, a mysterious entity with no website or email addresses. A decision by the Commission is required for a name to be added to the list, but the list is not public and it is impossible to access it, denounced Evgheny Smirnov, a lawyer for the NGO ‘Department One’, stating that cases have started to emerge in the last six to seven months.
Recently, another law was approved authorizing the seizure of assets of individuals involved in civil cases of “violations against state interests,” such as speaking ill of the President or discrediting military forces, calling for the introduction of sanctions against Russia, or comparing the USSR to Nazi Germany, who have left the country. Property and bank accounts can be seized. The law will come into force on September 1st.
