The powerful chief of Russia's equivalent to the FBI on Monday called for sweeping new rights restrictions, including curbing Internet freedoms and making it illegal to question Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, AFP reports.
The head of Russia's Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin backed a radical crackdown citing the need to counteract the "destructive" influence of the United States.
"It's time to stop playing at pseudo-democracy, following pseudo-liberal values," argued the official in charge of the country's most high-profile criminal investigations in a comment piece in Kommersant Vlast weekly.