While Russia’s mobilization of reservists to bolster its manpower on the frontline of the war with Ukraine has dominated news coverage of Russia in recent weeks, the hidden mobilization of Russia’s public administration to thwart any form of resistance to Putin’s regime has been underway since well before the start of the invasion. Russia’s online censorship agency Roskomnadzor has been monitoring online protest activities since 2020. In every Russian region, local branches of Roskomnadzor trace “points of tension,” or events that could cause public discontent. Their primary goal is to identif…
