Newsletters / Will Open Russia Remain Open in Russia?
On April 16 Open Russia office was stormed by armed Moscow police during President Vladimir Putin’s annual Q&A session. The masked police searched the premises for protest flyers that contained calls for “extremist activity” in light of Sunday opposition protest that Open Russia does not intend to participate in.
What is surprising is the Russian government’s attitude towards its own reputation: the raid took place at exactly the moment when President Putin was speaking of “the usefulness of the opposition’s participation in elections.”
The official reason given is the entirely fictional statement made about Open Russia making posters for the opposition event planned for April 19, which event we are not participating in. The real motive is our making a film about Kadyrov’s place in the current government system.
Read Khodorkovsky’s statement on Open Russia raid
While Mr. Putin was speaking, however, a different face of Russia was on display in the capital. Security officers raided the Moscow headquarters of Open Russia, an organization funded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Despite Putin’s largely conciliatory tone, Russian authorities showed little sign of backing down from their hard line against the opposition, searching the Moscow offices of an organization backed by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky as Putin was speaking.