President Putin Firmly Warns Russia's 'Traitors', Sends Message To Home Of Anti-War Activists

Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Wikimedia Commons: Kremlin.ru/Presidential Executive Office of Russia)

JAKARTA - Graffiti warnings were affixed on the doors of activists in Moscow. A food blogger could face up to 15 years in prison for "discrediting" the Russian army. Calls to fire a former senior official for "treason" for opposing the war in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin issued a venomous warning to "traitors" on Wednesday, saying the West would try to use them as a fifth column to destroy Russia. However, Russia will soon be able to tell 'patriots from trash'.

Within hours of Putin's speech, Dmitry Ivanov, a Moscow-based activist, said his mother found a graffiti message on their apartment door: "Don't betray Dima's homeland".

The graffiti bears several 'Z' signs used to rally support for what Moscow calls a 'special military operation' to disarm and 'denazify' Ukraine. The motif comes from the markings on Russian armored vehicles and tanks.

Ivanov, who is protesting the war, said he did not know who was behind the graffiti, but he did know at least three others, including an activist and a journalist, whose doors had been tampered with in the same way on Wednesday night.

"I don't know their purpose: to scare, not to scare, or just to spoil your mood. It's hard to scare us with such actions: we are used to this kind of attention," he told Reuters as quoted by Reuters. quoted March 18.

"The possibility of this action to complement Putin's speech, I think it is possible. Especially considering how ugly, and cheaply this marking was done. It was done in a hurry," he said.

Thousands of people have been detained across Russia since the Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Earlier, President Putin, in comments to government ministers on Wednesday, said Russia would spit out traitors 'like a gnat', and society would be better off because of it.

"I am convinced that this natural and necessary social self-cleaning will only strengthen our country, our solidarity, cohesion, and readiness to face any challenge," he said.

Asked about Thursday's statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said many people presented themselves as traitors.

"They themselves disappeared from our lives. Some people left their posts, some left their active working lives, some left the country and moved to other countries. That's how this purge happened," Peskov said.

After Putin spoke, the Investigative Committee, a law enforcement agency, announced the name of the first person, a food blogger, who is being investigated for spreading 'false information' about Russian soldiers on his blog.

The crime is now punishable by up to 15 years in prison, after Russia adopted the law on March 4 following a ripple of protest activity against the invasion.

Separately, in an interview with Reuters, Veronika Belotserkovskaya, who lives in southern France, said despite being apolitical, she wasn't surprised she was chosen, as she likely fits the image of someone the average Russian might despise.

"You know, there are spoiled fat women who live on the Cote D'Azur, in Provence, or in Italy, who make foie gras and eat lobster, who also dare to babble from there. I have all these qualities that the average person would seen as disgusting," he said.

After President Putin spoke on Wednesday, a senior member of the ruling United Russia party called for the immediate removal of former deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich from his position as head of a foundation promoting economic innovation.

Dvorkovich, who now heads the International Chess Federation, condemned the war in comments to Western media.

"He has made his choice. This is nothing but a national betrayal, the behavior of the fifth column, which the president spoke about today," said MP Andrei Turchak.