Russia takes aim at dissent ... and high heels?

[Bob Of Burleson]

Russia's parliament has been in overdrive in recent weeks, working on legislation
targeting free speech, women's heels, and the use of foreign words like 'hamburger.'

By Fred Weir, Correspondent
The Christian Science Monitor

Moscow — "Rubber stamps gone wild!"

That is a loose translation of the jibe going around about Russia's hyperactive parliamentarians, who have been introducing new legislation faster than anyone can read it. Last week, before leaving on summer recess, the State Duma reportedly passed 60 new laws in just four hours.

Much of the new legislation zipping across Duma deputies' desks has been authored by the Kremlin and aims to extend and deepen a crackdown, begun shortly after Vladimir Putin returned to the Kremlin two years ago. Russia has already passed laws to discourage dissent, limit Internet freedom, curb civil society, intimidate anyone who consorts with foreigners, and criminalize any public expression of gay identity.

. . .

"The Duma's work this year will definitely go down in history," says Pavel Kudyukin, associate professor at Moscow's Higher School of Economics. "The sheer number of new laws is totally unprecedented. Of course, quality is another story."
... and high heels?

Indeed, some of the frenzied lawmaking appears to be veering into sheer nuttiness. For example, pro-Kremlin deputy Oleg Mikheyev has floated a proposal that would prohibit Russian women from wearing high heels or canvas sneakers. His logic: "The harmful effects of wearing extremely high heels and flat shoes have now been recognized by experts of the entire world. It's necessary to change this trend." Mr. Mikheyev's initiative follows the banning of synthetic lace underwear, as of July 1, by the Russian-led Customs Union.

Russian parliamentarians have already passed a law prohibiting any use of profanity in works of journalism, cinema, theater, or music. At least one popular Russian punk group, Leningrad, has smirkingly found a way around that – by replacing the prohibited obscenities with perfectly good dictionary words that mean the same thing. A related bill wending its way through the Duma seeks to ban foreign words such as "futbol" and "hamburger" from media and the arts.

Another Duma deputy, Roman Khudyakov, recently noticed that Russia's 100-rouble bill contains a picture of the iconic statue that tops Moscow's Bolshoi Theater, of a naked – and slightly exposed – Apollo driving a chariot. Mr. Kudyakov is urgently demanding that the Central Bank withdraw the notes from circulation in order to "protect children" from the image.

Ponomaryov says that while the Kremlin is purposefully directing the legislative surge, ambitious deputies are turning it into a chaotic flood.

"This idiocy that is happening is because many deputies see that the way you get noticed is to propose a law," he says. "Of course everyone knows that the legislative fashion is strictly for more restrictions. You need to sponsor a law that bans something, shuts something down. That's what gets rewarded."

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