The prominent Russian left-wing intellectual and academic Boris Kagarlitsky was detained by the Russian security services FSB on July 25, on the basis of a criminal investigation against him for “justifying terrorism”. He was transferred to Syktyvkar, the capital of the Komi Republic, where a tribunal decreed his preventative arrest. He can be held until September 24.
Kagarlitsky is a well known leftist activist and has been jailed for his socialist views under the Stalinist regime, detained by the Yeltsin capitalist regime and now arrested by Putin.
In 2014 he was a critic of the Maidan regime in Kyiv and opposed its “Anti Terrorist Opposition” against the Donbas. Last year, he adopted a clear internationalist position against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and as a result he was officially declared a “foreign agent” by the authorities.
In the aftermath of the Prigozhin mutiny the Putin regime has launched a wave of arrests, including army officers, right wing monarchist critics and now also left critics. He wants to make sure there is no point of reference around which opposition might gather.
The arrest of Kagarlitsky is a threat and a warning to any left and Communist forces in opposition to the reactionary Putin regime. One does not have to agree politically with him to oppose state repression against him. That is a basic duty of comradely solidarity.
The International Marxist Tendency would like to express our internationalist solidarity with Kagarlitsky and demand his immediate release. We call on all Communist, left-wing and working class organisations around the world to mobilise for Kagarlitsky’s freedom.
London, July 27, 2023