I don’t know in detail who Kagarlitsky is – Kommersant

During the conference as part of the 20th meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club, President Vladimir Putin was asked about the condition of political scientist Boris Kagarlitsky (recognized as a foreign agent and included in the list of extremists and terrorists). He is currently under arrest on charges of justifying terrorism and is in a pre-trial detention center in Komi. The president said that he “does not know in detail who Kagarlitsky is,” but promised to study the issue. On July 29, the president already commented on the court cases against Boris Kagarlitsky and Evgenia Berkovich – then he said that he was hearing their names for the first time.

The author of the question began with a request comment the situation with honoring Yaroslav Hunka, a soldier from the SS division “Galicia”, in the Canadian parliament. However, immediately after this, she introduced herself as a friend of Boris Kagarlitsky and asked the president to talk about his condition in the colony. She noted that Boris Kagarlitsky “was never against Russia.” The author of the question also said that the political scientist’s friends and colleagues wrote an open letter in support of him. She asked the President to review this letter.

“I don’t know in detail who Kagarlitsky is. But, of course, I’ll take your paper. I will react,” said Vladimir Putin.

On July 29, the President conversation with Kommersant special correspondent Andrei Kolesnikov, he stated that he was hearing the names of Boris Kagarlitsky and Evgenia Berkovich for the first time and “doesn’t really understand what they did and what was done to them.” When asked by Mr. Kolesnikov whether it is normal to arrest people for spoken or written words, the president replied: “And the Russian Federation is in a state of armed conflict with its neighbor. I think that there should be a certain attitude towards those people who cause us harm within the country.”

A criminal case was initiated against Boris Kagarlitsky under Part 2 of Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public justification of terrorism committed using information and communication networks, including the Internet). The reason was a video published on YouTube in October 2022 about an explosion on the Crimean Bridge. Currently, Boris Kagarlitsky is under arrest until November 24 and transferred to Syktyvkar.

Polina Motyzlevskaya