green light our state is sending us a signal that violence is a staple of the regime and nothing should be done against this staple because otherwise the entire system will fall apart popova saidvalentina matviyenko the speaker of the upper house of parliament acknowledged the problem in 2019 and vowed to have a domestic violence bill by the end of the year one was drafted by popova pushkina and other activists it faced weeks of stiff resistance from conservative groups and the russian orthodox church arguing that the state shouldnt interfere in family matters as a result it was watered down and never came up for a vote nasiliunet a prominent nonprofit that supports domestic violence victims and advocated for the law has been labeled a foreign agent and given repeated hefty fines diana barsegyan its deputy director said the crippling moves speak volumes about the governments attitude toward domestic violence in a healthy situation the state should work together with experts and ngos on such a huge and complex problem barsegyan said and now were in a situation when the government comes to experts who are dealing with this problem saying youre foreign agents now and from now on it will be difficult for you to work pushkina who in recent years was a firebrand for domestic violence legislation decided not to run again after united russia endorsed someone else in her constituency of course the authorities dont need this profeminist agenda today she said our state policy has taken an ultraconservative path pushkina said that what popova stands for resonates with voters pointing out that even statefunded pollsters found that 70 of russians support a domestic violence law she believes popova will fight for the law if elected but that authorities will have the final say no matter how hard alyona fights if theres a decision higher up to slow something down block it or adopt then that will come to pass pushkina said popova is running in a moscow district and her competitors include a famous tv personality widely seen as progovernment and a seasoned lawmaker from the communist party she said she has fewer resources than her biggest opponents her candidacy was put forward by the democratic yabloko party which meant that she didnt need to collect signatures but the party isnt financing her campaign apathy by voters and their conviction that the election wont change anything makes campaigning even harder popova said adding the scariest thing the authorities achieved over the past 20 years is convincing people that elections are a farce she said she was criticized initially for making domestic violence the cornerstone of her campaign but it strikes a chord with many people she meets at every meeting we hold with voters at least one person either witnessed domestic violence or suffered from it she said the bill that was shelved had included a system of restraining orders something that abuse survivors told the associated press they wished had been in