Public Protection or Repression? Russia's Anti-Extremism Law Enforcement

"This book focuses on xenophobia-motivated illegal activities in Russia, government policies for counteracting extremism (that is, various direct, ideologically motivated threats to state and public security), and abuses that systematically arise in the implementation of these policies. The work is based on the annual reports by SOVA Center for Information and Analysis that focus on the years 2014 to 2020. This particular time frame was chosen because it was these dates that marked substantial changes in counter-extremism policy within Russia. The year 2014 was the beginning of Russia's intervention in the Ukraine crisis, which in many respects served as a turning point in domestic policy as well. The endpoint of 2020, when a large package of amendments to the Constitution were approved by nationwide referendum, also marked a watershed in domestic policy. The book closes with an Epilogue that summarizes more recent trends in law enforcement that have become evident since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war"--