New York Times: “Just days after invading Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin of Russia signed a censorship law that made it illegal to ‘discredit’ the army. The legislation was so sweeping that even his spokesman acknowledged it was easy to cross the line into prohibited speech.”
“In the first 18 months of the war, the law scooped up a vast array of ordinary Russians — schoolteachers, pensioners, groundskeepers, a carwash owner — for punishment.”
“No gesture, apparently, is too small. Judges have ruled that simply wearing blue and yellow clothing — the colors of the Ukrainian flag — or painting one’s fingernails blue and yellow can be punished. And there are few safe havens as people increasingly inform on their fellow citizens.”
