Repression inside Russia is closely linked to the foreign policy and aggression pursued by the Kremlin administration, says Suren Avanesyan, Senior Adviser at the Congressional Leadership Bureau. In an interview with PISA, the expert noted that the post-Soviet space remains a contested region.
In his view, the transformations that began in the 1980s and 1990s never truly came to an end and are still unfolding. Avanesyan believes Moscow is using hybrid threats in response to the way the West promotes fundamental values and freedoms.
“I believe we are still at a stage where questions concerning these fundamental issues — freedoms, rights, democracy, the ability to vote for whomever you choose and to express yourself as you wish — those basic freedoms that we in the West take for granted remain contested in the territory of the former Soviet Union. And I think this is a reaction to that. It is clearly an act of aggression in response to a worldview that has been developed over a period of time,” the adviser said.
Avanesyan stressed that, despite Russian interference, people across the post-Soviet space, including in Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, want democracy and freedom.