Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ The Russian government has declared prominent Russian warblogger Roman Alekhin to be a 'foreign agent', to the alarm and bewilderment of many other Russian warbloggers. The move is being linked to Alekhin's recent scandal over fundraising for the war effort. ⬇️

2/ In its weekly Friday publication of the latest individuals and organisations to be sanctioned under its foreign agent law, the Russian Ministry of Justice has listed Alekhin on the grounds that he had collaborated with other 'foreign agents'.

3/ Specifically, according to the Ministry, he had "participated in the dissemination of foreign agent messages and materials to the general public."

4/ "He disseminated false information about decisions and policies of Russian government bodies, as well as false information aimed at creating a negative image of Russian military personnel."

5/ Alekhin served briefly in the Akhmat special forces unit, received awards from the unit, and was an advisor to Alexei Smirnov, acting governor of the Kursk region. He has been a prominent supporter of the war effort and a high-profile fundraiser for the frontline troops.

6/ Like many other Russian warbloggers, Alekhin has been critical of failures in the way that the Russian armed forces have pursued the war. Other warbloggers have reacted with incredulity and concern, seeing the decision as an attack on warbloggers' freedom of speech.

7/ As 'Two Majors' notes, the designation has drastic consequences for Alekhin: "This effectively ends all commercial, political, and public activity for him."

The news seems to have prompted a belated realisation for other Russian warbloggers that they live in a dictatorship.

8/ 'ZHIVOVZ' writes: "I used to think that foreign agents were those who received foreign funding for their public, journalistic, or journalistic activities in Russia, thereby working for foreign countries."

9/ "And that foreign agent status must first be proven, i.e., that the person received the money and carried out the relevant activities.

10/ "Also, I always thought there was an invisible barrier of common sense that would prevent those who actively helped the front, directly or indirectly participating in the Special Military Operation, from being labeled foreign agents.

11/ "But judging by the Ministry of Justice's wording, money is not a prerequisite. Furthermore, the phrase "false information aimed at creating a negative image of Russian military personnel" can be applied to anyone.

12/ "It could be applied to the country's most famous propagandists, to me, or to some random woman whose husband was mobilised three years ago. I realize that with such a level of motivation for the status of foreign agent, anyone can become one, including your humble servant.

13/ "In short, the purge of the information space has begun. Soon, it seems, we will be saying goodbye.

The issue in this case isn't Roman Alekhin personally. Everyone has different attitudes toward him. It's precisely the approach and principle at play."

14/ 'Belarusian Silovik' is perplexed by the decision:

"Yeah, there were some truly crazy posts, and I can agree with a lot of them, but damn... I personally know people from the front lines to whom he actually supplied humanitarian aid and provided communications."

15/ "Even that month in Akhmat—that's a plus, too. And yet, the paradox is this: Pugacheva, who gives interviews and does more harm to the state through the media, hasn't been recognized as a foreign agent, while Alekhin has been.

16/ "I don't know, maybe we're missing something and something else will come out about him soon, but the story looks pretty bad...

In any case, we're seeing the first precedent linked in one way or another to the "war blogger-fundraising-humanitarian aid" principle.

17/ "Two years ago, I wrote that sooner or later, many authors, especially those involved in fundraising, would be investigated; it's just that the degree of responsibility would vary from person to person."

18/ Alekhin has recently been caught up in a scandal over his fundraising activities after an apparent sting video emerged in which he appeared to discuss diverting large amounts of donations into his own pocket.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1965458331663040785

19/ Ivan Pankin and others link the designation to this scandal: "The state tolerates criticism, but it doesn't tolerate it from people involved in dubious, shady schemes. In other words, it doesn't tolerate hypocrites."

20/ "That's my understanding of the situation. They didn't find fraud in his actions, but they did find a foreign agent. I have no other explanation."

Roman Nosikov calls the designation "just bullshit" and asks: "What's the basis for this decision?"

21/ "Once again, instead of getting to the bottom of it—whether he was stealing money or not—they're adding him to the register of foreign agents FOR TALKING TO FOREIGN AGENTS.

What kind of legal bullshit is this? What kind of orgy of abuse of the very concept of law is this?"

22/ 'Direct Action Z' is similarly critical and sees a pretext being used: "Clearly, this is a consequence of the recent scandal. They ordered a pre-investigation check and discovered that Alekhin was under the influence of reptilians?"

23/ "Idiocy and profanation. Instead of moral values, we have cops and investigators; instead of civil society, we have the Ministry of Justice. After all, if the state has grievances against Alekhin, they should have been framed as criminal charges.

24/ "One gets the sense that they do, but the repressive apparatus has degenerated so much that they're taking the easy way out, not even trying to prove a person's formal guilt.

25/ "But there are also advantages: the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing. After all, there were those among the ultra-loyalists who defended Alekhin. Like [Akhmat commander] [Apti] Alaudinov" (who recorded a video defending Alekhin after the scandal emerged).

26/ "They're now in an awkward position: should they challenge the authorities' decision or admit that the devil has crept into their midst?"

'Larkin' think that Alekhin's co-conspirators are being protected, calling him "a thief and a fraud."

27/ "His activities must be investigated, a financial audit conducted, a criminal case prepared, and he put behind bars. Plain and simple. A foreign agent is someone who receives money from a foreign state and works in that state's interests against Russia.

28/ "Alekhin is undoubtedly a scumbag, a fraud, and a scoundrel—but he is not a foreign agent. At the very least, there is no evidence anywhere that he was paid by people from foreign countries or that he harmed Russia in exchange for this payment.

29/ "He harmed Russia out of his own greed! This is no less a crime, but it is a different crime, and it corresponds to a different article of the Criminal Code. And "discrediting the army" is simply ridiculous.

30/ "It turns out that the fraudster is being tried not for 99% of his destructive activity, but for the 1% of sanity that was also present. And thus, Alekhin is completely safe, while freedom of speech (which is a NEED of society, not its surplus) is under threat.

31/ "They aimed at the emergency fundraiser, but hit everyone else except him.

You had one job and you failed it, my dear country.

I think this is a clever (not) clever scheme to cover for Alekhin. Quite in keeping with the style of his self-proclaimed "social technologies."

32/ "And the reason for this cover-up is also very clear – the number and quality of his corrupt partners is such that it's easier for them to collectively protect him than to sit next to him or even simply mitigate the consequences of scandals related to his possible testimony.

33/ "And this is the main guarantee of Alekhin's safety.

The scale of all this rot and vileness is far greater than one lousy emergency fundraiser." /end

Sources:
🔹 t.me/astrapress/925…
🔹 t.me/zhivoff/23289
🔹 t.me/dva_majors/797…
🔹 t.me/belarusian_sil…
🔹 t.me/belarusian_sil…
🔹 t.me/Pankin_Ivan/73…
🔹 t.me/romannosikov/2…
🔹 t.me/adirect/27358
🔹 t.me/larkin_doc/206…