Russian Acts of Kindness

[Sarah Hurst]

I just visited St. Petersburg for 3 weeks in March. I found it very
depressing. People said the law was completely arbitrary. They were afraid
of being fined or jailed for arbitrary reasons. I heard about someone who
had a business that was closed down because she had participated in some
opposition event. Someone told me that the laws are written so that they're
impossible to comply with, so that bureaucrats can make money from bribes;
people find more and more inventive ways to get around them, then the laws
get more and more ridiculous. NGOs are being fined for being "foreign
agents". If people can't form social organizations independent of and
critical of the government, I don't see how society can develop and
flourish. State-controlled TV broadcasts propaganda. There are opposition
media outlets, but I was told that the government tolerates them just
because they appeal to such a limited sector of society, and they aren't a
threat, but they make it seem like the press is free. 

 

Sarah Hurst

 


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