Interfax: Russia oldest rights group cuts staff, salaries – veteran activist

(Interfax – February 10, 2014) Russia’s oldest human rights organization, the Moscow Helsinki Group, has been forced to cut its staff size by several times due to the notorious law on NGOs, Russian privately-owned news agency Interfax reported on 10 February, quoting the veteran rights champion, Lyudmila Alekseyeva, who heads the organization.

“In connection with the new law there are five people working in the Moscow Helsinki Group now, and all

our salaries have been reduced by half. Never mind, we did not receive any salaries back in Soviet times,” Alekseyeva told Interfax.

“We are now working without any foreign grants, and we have a minimum staff left. We were gradually reducing the staff. Once we had 17 employees, there are five now. Others who are experts are working for free,” she said.

There are volunteers working at the Moscow Helsinki Group now, Alekseyeva said, adding: “We will go on working. We’ve got used to working in new conditions. We are w! orking on fewer projects.”

Like many other Russian human rights activists, the Moscow Helsinki Group is boycotting the law on NGOs that requires organizations that receive grants from the West to register as foreign agents.

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