In Russia, the military court of Yekaterinburg has sentenced members of a communist organization to heavy prison terms (from 16 to 22 years) on charges of “terrorism” – a case that shows the qualitative leap in repression against a group that calls itself Marxist.

Meanwhile, the long-time leader of the anti-capitalist Left Front, Sergei Udaltsov, has been sent to a penal colony. In 2024, the Russian Socialist Movement was designated a “foreign agent” and forced to dissolve itself. In its carefully researched report entitled Three Years of Anti-War, OVD-Info documents tens of thousands of detentions and bureaucratic sanctions. Among the targets is the youth movement Vesna (“Spring”), which offered a common ground of mobilization for many left-wing networks. Many of these groups were hit also because they were active against the war.

“Extremism” has become an umbrella crime in Russia that allows for targeting individuals and networks, including transnational ones. Most of the charges are based on Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code (“justification of terrorism”), wielded as a cudgel: statements, posts on social media and simple retweets are grounds for criminal charges. It is a kind of bureaucratic sclerosis rather typical of authoritarian regimes: some will remember that, at the funeral of Antonio Gramsci, the fascist police recorded some attendees with “red flowers” to commemorate an “anarchist.”

There is no need to recall what happened to all opposition leaders in Russia, how many prominent figures have “fallen out of a window” and what kind of........

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