Russia

Today, Russia is more repressive than it has ever been in the post-Soviet era. Using a wide range of tools, the state has tightened control over free expression, assembly, and speech, aiming to silence independent critics, including online. With the crackdown on civil society growing increasingly vicious, Kremlin-controlled broadcasters portrayed Western democracies as working to destabilize Russia and the world, urged Russians to mobilize against this threat, and branded dissenting voices as paid agents of the West working against Russia. With the use of draconian legislation, authorities demonized as “foreign agents” over 150 independent groups. More than 30 closed.

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Stop Anti-Gay Attacks in Chechnya

Stop Anti-Gay Attacks in Chechnya

Police in Chechnya, a region in southern Russia, are rounding up men believed to be gay, holding them in secret detention, and beating and humiliating them. Sometimes police forcibly “out” these men to their families, hinting that they should be taken care of in an “honor killing.”

Tell Putin to end the crackdown on gay men in Chechnya and help protect those in imminent danger from coming to any harm.