Speaker 1: Today we have two stories about Russian prisons, quite frankly. A number of you wrote to
me yesterday and you sent me an article about a teacher being imprisoned for political speech in
Russia and said, David, is this the woman who called in to your show a few months ago? Now,
I've already looked. I don't believe it is the same woman unless the woman who called in was
deliberately giving wrong information about where she teaches and different things. But
it is a very cautionary tale about what exactly was said by our caller and what she feared because
of her political views. So let me reset it for you. Article says Russian Teacher Sentenced
For Telling Students About War Crimes in Ukraine. This article is about Irina again,
who received a five year suspended sentence and has been barred from working in state schools. And
if you read the article, it says this is a school teacher in a provincial, provincial Russian city.
She got a suspended sentence because she spoke out against the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine
and she was found guilty of discrediting the Russian armed forces. There is a new law that bans
criticism of the war in Ukraine and she got a five year suspended sentence and is barred from working
in state schools for three years. The court also found that she disseminated false information by
telling students about the siege of Mariupol and Russian airstrikes killing children in Ukraine.
She was slapped with charges in March. So this was actually this predates our caller. But remember
the caller we had who called in under a pseudonym for exactly these types of fears. Listen to this.
Speaker 2: Taking my question. Speaker 1: So before you go,
you're calling from Russia? Speaker 2: Yeah, from Moscow.
Speaker 1: And so what is the would you say the general sentiment there is that people
like the invasion of Ukraine or people are against the invasion of Ukraine?
Speaker 2: I have to say that I will have a certain Moscow liberal bias because that's
the area where I was raised and my family has always been critical of the government. There is
not a single person in my immediate circles that are fans of this government. Okay. But I will say
that's just from my own personal experience, just looking at cars or driving or parking
anywhere. I don't see a single Z sign. There is no single, I would say, personal initiative
to install anything that is commemorative to this war. All I've seen is state council local efforts,
which are sponsored from the state, from the federal budget to try and convince people to
engage in such practices and some type of coercion that's happening, for example, in kindergartens.
Oftentimes, parents discover that the school trip or the kindergarten trip they send their children
to was actually a sort of patriotic event because they then later find pictures of the children
posed in the letter Z on social media. Speaker 1: That's the patriotic education
Trump keeps talking about. Now, listen, do you feel safe expressing your views,
antagonistic to the government? Speaker 2: On here he has over at my university.
I've already sort of spoken myself into 15 years of prison, if anybody would like,
deep, deep anywhere around me. So this is just a weird spaces that I know that if anybody looked
at me or what I've been writing, what I've been saying, it is quite possible that I will face
some sort of fine or maybe even jail time. After all, our person was arrested yesterday
for walking out with a printout of Russian constitution on the streets and couldn't walk.
Speaker 1: So obviously not the same person. Our caller called in May and we know that Iran again
was already under prosecution starting in March. So not the same caller. But
these are not unfounded fears. And thankfully, Irina again has only received a suspended sentence
and can no longer teach in state schools and will not be imprisoned. But these are real concerns,
and this is what so many right wingers are impressed with, quite frankly. This is the type
of they they find Putin to be incredibly strong. It's sort of like when Duterte is strong because
he encourages the killing of drug dealers. It is a crazy world out there. And these authoritarians
are actually gaining support around the world, including from Americans
in the United States, in the American right wing. Very scary stuff