Russia revives Soviet-era tactics to quash dissent, says UN expert

Russia is reviving Soviet-era tactics such as forced psychiatric treatment to silence dissenters and anti-war voices in an increasingly repressive environment, a UN expert said on Monday. Rights groups say President Vladimir Putin's government has lurched further into authoritarianism since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, but Moscow denies that and accuses the West of a smear campaign. A report this month by Mariana Katzarova, the UN's special rapporteur on rights in Russia, found that state-sponsored repression is escalating and becoming systematic via national security laws and other measures. "Punitive psychiatry has returned as a tool against anti-war voices," Katzarova told reporters in Geneva. The Russian diplomatic mission in Geneva pointed Reuters to a September 8...