The masks are off, dawn is cancelled. From now on — eternal darkness. At least as long as its architect lives. That is perhaps the most fitting way to describe the latest news from Russia.

Ekaterina Duntsova’s Rassvet (Dawn) party, one of the few political initiatives still attempting to secure the right to engage in legal political activity and bring at least some semblance of public debate to the State Duma and television, has been designated a “foreign agent”. And this happened before the party could even complete its registration.

The party’s founder, Ekaterina Duntsova, is challenging the legality of the decision. According to her, the Ministry of Justice violated the very procedures it had established. Moreover, the party was being formed under the ministry’s own supervision, yet the registration process prescribed by law was effectively blocked by an administrative decision.

Foreign funding, Duntsova maintains, had nothing to do with it. Instead, helping refugees, supporting victims of domestic violence and campaigning for a free internet somehow found themselves classified among the signs of “foreign influence”.

Apparently, that was enough to reaffirm an old principle of Russian politics: “Parliament is no place for debate.”

This idea was made famous back in 2003 by Boris Gryzlov, then Speaker of the State Duma. More than twenty years have passed, and the political system seems determined to keep developing his idea. Now, judging by events, debate is unwelcome not only inside parliament. Apparently, it is better not to let it get anywhere near parliament in the first place.

Duntsova, however, has no intention of abandoning her legal challenge. She plans to contest the Ministry of Justice’s decision, appeal to prosecutors and seek a legal assessment of the ministry’s actions.

For our part, we wish her success. Above all, we hope she undertakes as many procedural manoeuvres as possible, so that the entire legal absurdity created by the Russian authorities themselves is thoroughly documented.

Let every appeal, every refusal and every contradiction between the law and the actions of officials remain on record. Preferably with signatures and official stamps. At least until these proceedings, too, are made secret — following the example of so-called high treason cases, where closed hearings and restricted access to case materials severely limit public scrutiny.

After all, when even the possibility of observing a trial disappears, documenting violations and holding those responsible to account becomes considerably more difficult. And a law whose enforcement cannot be scrutinised by society risks becoming nothing more than a stage prop.

Hoping for anything else is pointless. Especially in a state where hordes of saboteurs and hired killers are sent beyond its borders to carry out acts of sabotage and murder. This is no figure of speech. We have already examined such operations and the findings of international investigations in detail in our article “Who Is the Terrorist?”.

And yet, in this very state, helping refugees, protecting victims of domestic violence and fighting for a free internet become grounds for accusations of “foreign influence”.

“Dawn” was outlawed before it could even rise. After all, daylight makes it far too easy to see what they are doing in the dark.

Sources: Ekaterina Duntsova’s Telegram channel — Post No. 1128, Post No. 1132.