(EDM) Russia’s deteriorating economic situation is exacerbating the various social problems in the country, and the authorities are apparently finding no other way to deal with such issues but to shut down all outlets for public debate. Last week (May 28), President Vladimir Putin expanded the definition of information constituting state secrets to include data on casualties sustained by the Armed Forces in the course of “special operations” in peacetime (Kommersant, May 29). The immediate reason appears to be the need to silence the voices that raise the sensitive issue of soldiers killed in the “hybrid war” battles in eastern Ukraine following the publication of the report “Putin. War,” prepared by the late Boris Nemtsov and completed by his comrades (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, May 29). It is, indeed, becoming difficult for the Russian government to sustain the “patriotic” mobilization of the population as the dirty war drags on, and the real reason behind the outlawing of discussion on its human costs may be the preparation for a new offensive that should re-energize Russians’ dissipating triumphalism. […]
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