Editorial. Russia’s sinister totalitarianism

A Russian court’s sentencing of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to 6½ years in prison after a secret trial shows Vladimir Putin’s regime is becoming more brutal, dangerous and hostile to the West. Behind closed doors last Friday, Kurmasheva was convicted of disseminating false information about the Russian military, charges she denies. Russian state media did not report the verdict until Monday.

Kurmasheva, 47, a US-Russian dual citizen and the mother of two daughters, was convicted on the same day as Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, 32. He also was sentenced behind closed doors, to 16 years, on patently bogus charges of spying for the CIA. As with Kurmasheva, no evidence was produced to justify the charge against Gershkovich. Before last week’s sentencing, he had already been incarcerated since March last year.

Kurmasheva, who was based in Prague, was stopped while trying to leave Russia in June last year after a two-week trip visiting her sick mother. Authorities confiscated her passports and she was arrested on new charges in October and December, when she was put in pre-trial detention. The journalists’ treatment suggests the Putin regime now regards overseas journalists as legitimate targets, behind a new iron curtain.