Governor of occupied Crimea wants to deprive of citizenship all those who don't stand up when Russian anthem is played

Sergey Aksyonov, Russian-appointed puppet governor of the occupied Crimea, suggests that those who do not stand up when the Russian national anthem is played be deprived of citizenship and advocates the revival of the SMERSH ["Spies must die", former Soviet counterintelligence units – ed.].

Source: Russians Kremlin-aligned news outlet RBK; Aksyonov on Telegram

Quote from Aksyonov: "I consider it necessary to raise the issue of deprivation of citizenship if there is a documented case of not rising to the Russian anthem. Why do you need citizenship if you do not stand up and do not respect the symbols of the state: the flag, the anthem. Let's deprive them of citizenship in court."

Details: The collaborator also wrote that he was in favour of "reviving SMERSH."

Quote from Aksyonov: "I stand for the revival of SMERSH, in relation to the fifth column for sure. Today is the time. I'm not even talking about combat operations but about a peaceful life. We have many such fifth columns: it is unclear who they work for and what they do. Sometimes I notice that during events there are those who demonstratively does not stand up to the Russian anthem. Such characters must be identified and the materials should be passed to the FSB."

Details: The collaborator called the unwillingness to stand up for the Russian anthem "disrespect" and "direct hostility." In his opinion, "radical decisions must be made for such actions."

Reference: "Smersh" (short for "Spies must die!") was the name of a number of independent counterintelligence organisations in the Soviet Union during the World War II.

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