Contact: Caitlin Graf, The Nation, press [at] thenation.com, 212-209-5400
New York, N.Y.—July 27, 2023—Nation contributor Boris Kagarlitsky was detained on July 26. Nation editor D.D. Guttenplan and editorial director and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel issued the following statement in response to this assault on the freedom of the press:
We learned via Telegram Wednesday morning that longtime Nation contributor Boris Kagarlitsky has been arrested by the FSB in Russia on suspicion of “justifying terrorism” under Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, for comments he posted on social media following the October attack on the Crimean Kerch bridge.
He has been taken to Syktyvkar, in the Komi region, more than 800 miles from his Moscow home. where his case is being overseen by the local FSB branch. (Kagarlitsky was detained after the head of the FSB in the Komi Republic determined that that one of his recent blog posts constituted justification of terrorism. The FSB initiated charges, leading to Kagarlitsky’s removal to the remote city.) He was ordered to be held in a pretrial detention center for two months. The charges could be very serious—he may face years in prison.
A former member of the Moscow City Soviet and veteran Marxist theorist and activist, Kagarlitsky has been very outspoken against the Ukraine war, running a YouTube site, Rabkor; heading the Moscow think tank, The Institute for Globalization Studies and Social Movements; giving voice to dissent; publishing at The Nation; as well as speaking in various forums internationally. Three other members of Rabkor were also detained, searched and interrogated, but have subsequently been released.
Kagarlitsky’s experience is a clear reminder of the need to defend a free press in the face of efforts by governments—including our own—to silence journalists escalate across the world. The Nation stands in support of and in solidarity with Boris Kagarlitsky and opposes the Russian state’s attack on an independent scholar and journalist for doing his job.
We will keep you posted on developments in his case as we become aware of them. Read a statement in the Moscow Times from his lawyer here.
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