To the point of being shot? Propagandists urged to judge the escaped "liberals" for treason

Ivan Zubov

The editor-in-chief of the propaganda TV channel RT Margarita Simonyan, speaking live on “Evenings with Vladimir Solovyov”, called for bringing Russians who left the country who criticize the Kremlin’s policies to criminal liability under the article on treason.

“In general, these people should be tried under the article “high treason”, which is present in the Criminal Code. (...) It says in Russian that if you collect information on order or for money, or otherwise in any way contribute to a foreign state hostile to your country, somehow fight with your country - informationally, in any other way - then this constitutes the article "high treason".

At the same time, Simonyan stressed that she had already voiced this idea “in a very, very, to put it mildly, high office,” and added that she was not the only one who advocated such a measure. Solovyov also supported Simonyan's idea, declaring her words "absolutely correct".

Recall that back in the summer, Putin signed a law that expands the concept of "treason", equating it with assistance to "a foreign state, international or foreign organization or their representatives in activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation." According to the new wording, a person can be punished not only for his actions, but also for the actions of an organization in which he himself did not specifically take any part, and for up to 20 years in prison.

Interestingly, almost simultaneously with Simonyan’s speech, the experts of the Russian Security Council also spoke about the need to strengthen counteraction to Western interference in Russian affairs at a meeting of the scientific council, which considered the challenges and threats to national security, TASS reports. The Russian security services should intensify their work to counter the attempts of the West to “intervene in the internal affairs” of the country and manipulate public opinion about the course of the war, the Russian Security Council said in a statement. A number of foreign states seek to "destabilize the socio-political situation in Russia", - the Security Council says, adding that, in particular, "nationalist and right-wing radical structures" are used for this.

Propagandists in their discussion of this sore point mentioned specific names of people to whom the article on treason could be applied. In addition, Soloviev complained that the state still does not seize the property of such fugitives: “We don’t even touch their property. I don’t say “confiscate” — we don’t even arrest her”. Moreover, Solovyov said that "at some point" Russia should return to executions.

Calls to kill dissident fellow citizens in Russia coincided with the news from Iran.

As NI reported yesterday, the parliament of the Islamic Republic intends to pass a law that would allow the authorities to execute anyone who passes information or sends images to foreign media.

Another cannibalistic law is being prepared by members of the Iranian parliament: according to it, “in the event of sending videos or images to hostile or foreign networks, the guilty person will be sentenced to the maximum punishment”, reports the opposition Iranian publication Iran International.