Meduza has obtained the authorities’ plan to combat extremism. What has come to light from it?

Meduza has found on the website of a regional school a plan of measures for implementing the Strategy for countering extremism. The document has not been officially published, and Meduza cannot guarantee its authenticity, but on several indirect grounds considers it likely to be genuine. The plan mostly expands upon the provisions of the strategy, but, as journalists have noticed, some items go beyond the original document.

Among other things, the authorities plan to:

• check conscripts, future contract soldiers, and sports coaches for links to extremist organisations;
• crack down on Russophobia within the army and law enforcement agencies;
• instil “traditional Russian values” in residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions;
• suppress neo-Nazism and Ukrainian nationalism in the “new subjects of the Russian Federation”;
• use artificial intelligence to prepare and disseminate materials aimed at increasing the “vigilance” of Russians and getting them interested in combating extremism.

The Strategy for Countering Extremism describes threats to state security in broad and vague terms. They include: “Russophobia,” “destructive ideologies,” preparation of “colour revolutions,” “falsification of history” and threats to “traditional values.” The document gives special attention to NGOs: the authorities claim that foreign and international organisations may use humanitarian and educational projects to “inspire protest activity.”

For more on how anti-extremism legislation is used to persecute people and ban organisations, movements, and even non-existent groups, OVD-Info has reported in a separate article.