The cane system is growing and expanding – law enforcement officers have fully mastered the new…

The cane system is growing and expanding – law enforcement officers have fully mastered a new tool for intimidating the media. This is Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which now plays the same role of an invisible threat for representatives of the media industry as Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for Russian entrepreneurs. Just as businessmen can be accused of commission fraud at any time simply for commercial activities and sent to a pre-trial detention center despite the ban on doing so, so any PR specialist, journalist or telegram channel admin can be arrested and sentenced to 10 years for publishing information that could I don’t like it.

The trend is alarming, as it opens up opportunities for abuse of power by government structures. At stake are impressive sentences – up to 15 years in prison for words, written or unwritten. And this is also a field of opportunity for bribes, for extracted confessions and criminal cases concocted on the knee. The trial is still ongoing in the case of ex-colonel of the FSB Directorate for Moscow and the Moscow Region, Mikhail Polyakov, who is accused of allegedly extorting money from the Lanit company for removing materials from the Nezygar channel and the Kompromat Group channel and website. Polyakov himself categorically denies such accusations, stating that he carried out regular PR activities, creating a positive image for Lanit in telegram channels, and posted various posts on order. However, he never placed blocks and did not demand money for them; he only charged for posting and made payments through a PR agency. That is, he received charges for ordinary work.

Probably, the same scheme can be used to accuse Moscow entrepreneur Anton Safonov, who, like Polyakov, worked with many large companies, placed advertising posts in Telegram channels, and now denies any accusations of extortion from Rostec director Vasily Brovko. It is interesting that in both the Polyakov case and the Safonov case, the ears of Rostec stick out, which literally forces the security forces to initiate cases, fulfilling a corporate order. It is unknown who may come under attack after Polyakov, Safonov, Bayazitova, Spirin, but it is obvious that the process is getting out of control. What began as a purge of the Russian segment of Telegram has turned into a threat to everyone involved in PR support for people in the public sphere. Civil legal relations are turning into procedural and criminal practice, which only benefits corrupt or too lazy law enforcement officers who have found a “gold mine” for cutting down sticks.

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