Week-ending 4 June 2021
On 1 June 2021 a law on educational activities and cooperation with foreign academics came into force in Russia giving government authorities to power to permit or forbid activities outside formal academic settings. On 4 June 2021 President Putin has signed into law a bill banning supporters and members of organizations deemed ‘extremist’ from standing as candidates in elections.
Source:
The Moscow Times, 1 June 2021: Russia has banned non-state-approved educational activities and cooperation with foreign academics, according to highly criticized changes to Russia’s education law that came into effect Tuesday. The law is based on the need cited by lawmakers for broad state power to permit or forbid activities outside formal academic settings. They said that the law was essential to counter “negative foreign influence in the educational process.” “Anti-Russian forces carry out propaganda under the guise of educational activities,” the bill’s authors wrote.
The Moscow Times, 2 June 2021: Russian authorities widened a crackdown on the country’s beleaguered opposition on Wednesday as the legislature advanced a bill that would bar opponents from polls and a court jailed another well-known Kremlin critic. Russia’s opposition says authorities are stepping up a campaign of intimidation against dissenters ahead of a parliamentary vote in September, allegations the Kremlin has rejected.
RFE/RL, 2 June 2021 Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, has approved a bill that would ban supporters and members of organizations designated as “extremist” from being elected to any post — a move making it virtually impossible for anyone connected to jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny to gain public office. Under the draft bill approved on June 2 by the chamber, leaders and founders of organizations declared extremist or terrorist by Russia’s courts will be banned from running for elected posts for a period of five years.
RFE/RL, 4 June 2021: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a bill that would ban supporters and members of organizations deemed by authorities as “extremist” from being elected to any post — a move making it virtually impossible for anyone connected to jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny from gaining public office. The law endorsed by Putin on June 4 bars leaders and founders of organizations declared extremist or terrorist by Russian courts from running for elective posts for a period of five years.
