Exclusive-Russia is rotting in absurdity and repression, veteran rights campaigner says

Russian veteran human rights campaigner Oleg Orlov attends an interview with Reuters in Moscow, Russia July 10, 2023. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is decaying in a potent brew of absurdity and repression that is comparable to the Leonid Brezhnev-era of the Soviet Union, Oleg Orlov, one of the Russia's most respected human rights campaigners, told Reuters.

Orlov, 70, is on trial in Russia for articles he published last year which cast Russia as a "fascist" state seeking revenge for the perceived humiliations of the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. He faces up to three years in prison.