Rights Commissioner Lukin: Eviction of human rights NGO from office unlawful

Vladimir Lukin file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 22, 2013) Russian Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin described as arbitrary the eviction of the organization For Human Rights from its office in Maly Kislovsky Street in Moscow by city law enforcement agencies early on Saturday. “We will discuss with lawyers how to react to what happened,” Lukin told Interfax on Saturday. “Moscow authorities and police […]

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Law on foreign agents is not repressive – Naryshkin

Russian Duma Building

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 20, 2013) Russian State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin believes it is important that society should understand that the legislation on NGOs is not restrictive in nature and the state is interested in increasing the number of NGOs and their unimpeded work. “As for NGOs, it is, of course, important that society should understand that the law […]

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Long-Lost Soviet Holocaust Films Under New Spotlight

File Photo of Nazi Concentration Camp - adapted from image at army.mil

(RIA Novosti – Maria Young – WASHINGTON, June 19, 2013) ­ Nearly a dozen long-lost, rarely seen Soviet films and scores of screenplays that were never produced about the persecution of Jews during World War II have been revived to offer decades-old evidence of a side of the Holocaust few people recognize today. From the dusty archives of Moscow and […]

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Navalny’s Game

Alexei Navalny file photo

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – June 19, 2013) [Video here: rferl.org/content/navalny-game-russia-opposition-moscow-trial/25022010.html] Aleksei Navalny may be on the ropes, but at the same time he’s also on something of a roll. The on-the-ropes part was in full display in Kirov on June 18 when Judge Sergei Blinov flat-out refused to allow Navalny to call any defense witnesses in his […]

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RIA Novosti: Russian Opposition Figure Charged with Plotting Mass Riots

Leonid Razvozzhayev file photo with hand to ear, as if holding cellphone

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 19, 2013) Russian prosecutors have charged opposition activist Leonid Razvozzhayev with plotting mass riots during a demonstration in Moscow last May, his lawyer Dmitry Agranovsky told RAPSI on Wednesday. Razvozzhayev, who had previously been accused by investigators of attempting mass disturbances, has been now formally charged with having organized riots, followed by violence, property destruction, […]

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Navalny says his brother’s home searched by detectives

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 17, 2013) Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, founder of Anti-Corruption Foundation, wrote on Twitter on Monday that detectives were currently searching his brother’s apartment. Interfax has been unable to obtain confirmation of Navalny’s words. In December, brothers Alexei and Oleg Navalny were charged with fraud and money laundering. “Alexei Navalny set up a limited liability company […]

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Moscow slams European Parliament resolution criticizing human rights in Russia

EU Map

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 14, 2013) Moscow views a European Parliament resolution regarding the rule of law in Russia as a set of unwarranted accusations. “The content of the resolution is a hackneyed set of unwarranted accusations and complaints regarding Russia, and this often openly distorts facts as well. It contains everything but a real desire to solve problems with […]

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RIA Novosti: Putin Praises Russia’s ‘Liberal’ NGO Legislation

Vladimir Putin file photo

(RIA Novosti – NOVO-OGARYOVO, June 14, 2013) ­ Russian legislation regarding non-governmental organizations is far more liberal that of other countries, President Vladimir Putin said Friday, in an implicit response to Western criticism that recent Russian legislation on NGOs is too restrictive. “Our legislation is more liberal,” he said in Moscow at a meeting of the Civil 20, the arm […]

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Law on NGOs-foreign agents must be nullified, not elaborated – Memorial head

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 14, 2013) Head of a leading non-governmental organization (NGO) in Russia, the Historical, Enlightenment and Human Rights Society Memorial, Arseny Roginsky, said he did not see any sense in elaborating the law obliging NGOs with foreign financing to register as foreign agents. “It is impossible to elaborate this law. It violates the right on freedom of […]

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Dvorkovich Sees Possibility of Guriev Return

Sergei Guriev file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – June 13, 2013) Self-exiled economist Sergei Guriev met with the Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich on Wednesday in Paris ­ his first informal get together with a senior Russian official since he left the country last month, fearing pressure from law enforcement agencies. Guriev, who headed the liberal New Economic School until […]

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Kremlin official proposes to amend NGO law

Kremlin and Moscow Environs Aerial View

(Interfax – June 13, 2013) The law on non-governmental organizations (NGO) acting as foreign agents may be amended, says Ksenia Yudayeva, the chief of the Russian presidential expert directorate. “I think a lot of laws we adopt are later discussed and subjected to an adjustment process,” Yudayeva told journalists at the Civil G20 Summit in Moscow on Thursday. “For any […]

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Human rights ombudsman praises opposition march

Vladimir Lukin file photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Igor Rozin, based on Interfax – June 12, 2013) Both opposition activists and the Russian human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin seemed satisfied with the results of the protest and did not advance any complaints concerning the police’s behavior. Some 6,000 people took part part in the opposition march in central Moscow on Wednesday, […]

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Navalny says authorities want to block his mayoral nomination

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(Interfax – June 13, 2013) Opposition activist Alexei Navalny believes that the Kirov Court hearings on the Kirovles case scheduled by the court for June 13 and 14 are aimed at blocking his nomination for Moscow mayor, said his lawyer Sergei Kobelev. The lawyer said that his client Navalny had notified him that he was supposed to attend a meeting […]

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TRANSCRIPT: [Putin] Speech at reception on Russia Day

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Kremlin.ru – June 12, 2013) The Kremlin, Moscow PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, friends, Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, I congratulate you on Russia Day. This holiday grows in importance every year. Its meaning, spirit and atmosphere reflect Russia’s development today. It is also a part of our history with all its difficult and sometimes dramatic moments. We all […]

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Russian prominent economist Guriyev does not want to be political refugee in France

Sergei Guriev file photo

(Interfax – June 11, 2013) Former head of the New Economic School (NES) Sergei Guriyev said that the reasons due to which he left Russia were personal and he did not intend to get the political refugee status in France. “I am not a political emigrant. I simply do not want to live in Russia. I repeat once again: [Russian […]

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Navalny Tries to Boot Judge From KirovLes Trial

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – June 11, 2013) The trial against opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his business partner Pyotr Ofitserov on embezzlement charges entered its 12th day on Monday, with the defense demanding that the judge in the case recuse himself for allegedly creating unequal conditions for the defense and prosecution. The judge, Sergei Blinov, of […]

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Russian official accuses rights activists of sowing destructive ideas

Vladimir Markin file photo

(Interfax – June 10, 2013) Official spokesman for the Russian Investigations Committee Vladimir Markin has said that human rights activists do not always take an objective stance on some criminal cases and sometimes come up with ideas which are destructive for law and order, privately-owned Interfax news agency reported on 10 June. “Alas, numerous social commentators and human rights activists […]

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Russian rights veterans issue statement in support of ‘foreign agent’ NGOs

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – Moscow, June 6, 2013) A number of Russian rights activists have stood up for the Golos NGO and other organizations that have been labelled foreign agents, saying that their work should not be labelled political. “Accusations about NGOs taking part in political activities strikes out citizens’ constitutional rights,” reads Rights Council statement released in Moscow on Thursday (6 […]

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Court Extends Detentions as Bolotnoye Trial Begins

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow TImes – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – June 7, 2013) The trial against 12 people charged with violence against police and participation in alleged mass riots in the so-called Bolotnoye case ­ a case observers say is one of the largest politically motivated trials in recent history ­ opened at the Zamoskvoretsky District Court on Thursday. More than 400 […]

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Kasparov ‘Refrains’ From Returning to Russia Over Bolotnoye Case Fears

Older File Photo of Garry Kasparov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – June 6, 2013) Garry Kasparov, the world chess champion-turned-political-opposition-stalwart, told a news conference in Geneva that he would not return to Russia for fear of criminal prosecution for his political activities, his website reported Wednesday. Kasparov’s announcement comes amid fears of a new wave of emigration of opposition-minded intellectuals, a fear intensified […]

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Memorial wants independent evaluation of May 6, 2012 events in Bolotnaya Square

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 6, 2013) The human rights center Memorial has called for an independent legal evaluation of the events that occurred in the Moscow Bolotnaya Square on May 6, 2012 and the trial of the people charged in the riots, which is now beginning. “We believe it is extremely important to conduct an independent legal evaluation of the […]

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Arrest of Makhachkala Mayor Seen as Sign of Changing Tide

Map of Dagestan, Georgia and Environs

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – June 4, 2013) As the fallout from the arrest of the leader of Dagestan’s capital continued on Monday, experts agreed that the event would likely send tremors throughout all of Russia. Makhachkala Mayor Said Amirov, 59, was detained Saturday with the help of special forces sent by Moscow, who blocked all of […]

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Head of Major College Reportedly Emigrates Under Pressure [re: Guriev]

Sergei Guriev file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – May 30, 2013) A minister said Wednesday that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s Open Government would continue to work with prominent liberal economist Sergei Guriyev despite media reports that he resigned as head of a major college and left the country under pressure from authorities. Mikhail Abyzov, the Open Government liaison holding the […]

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Kremlin Human Rights Council justifies Yukos case experts questioned by investigators [re: Guriev]

Mikhail Fedotov file photo

(Interfax – May 30, 2013) Russian economist Sergei Guriyev and other experts invited to prepare a conclusion on the Yukos case for the Presidential Human Rights Council did not do anything illegal, the council’s head Mikhail Fedotov told Interfax. “I do not see anything unlawful in the work done by Guriyev and the other experts invited by us to conduct […]

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Memorial human rights center contests in court demand to register as foreign agent

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 29, 2013) Memorial human rights center has filed a complaint with Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky Court to contest the demand of a Moscow prosecutor’s office to register as a foreign agent. “Memorial states in the lawsuit that the conclusions of the prosecutor’s office on the organization’s activities are groundless and that the information, on which the request of […]

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No Country for ICU Patients

File Photo of Patient in Russian Hospital

(RIA Novosti – Natalia Antonova, Acting Editor-in-Chief of The Moscow News – May 27, 2013) Here is a bit of uncomfortable information for Western expats who are new to Moscow: If you or your loved ones, God forbid, end up in intensive care, few hospitals will allow you to have visitors. The rule even applies to very young children. The […]

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Prison or presidency for ‘Russia’s Kennedy’? [re: Navalny]

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(opendemocracy.net – Ekaterina Loushnikov – May 25, 2013) Ekaterina Loushnikova is radio and print journalist based in the city of Kirov Charismatic opposition leader Aleksey Navalny is on trial in the provincial capital of Kirov, 900km from Moscow. He is controversially accused of stealing timber worth 16 million roubles in 2009; if found guilty, he will spend his next few […]

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Russian prosecutors claim international NGO Memorial financed from abroad, involved in politics

Kremlin and Moscow Environs Aerial View

(Interfax – May 24, 2013) The Memorial international public organization in Russia is involved in political activities and is financed from the United States, a prosecutor’s office said. “It has been determined that the organization received over 52 million rubles (about $1,6 million) in 2010 from foreign citizens or people without citizenship and 40 million rubles (near $1,3 million) in […]

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Russian senators dismiss ‘biased’ criticism in Amnesty International report

Federation Council file photo

(Interfax – Moscow, May 23, 2013) Federation Council senators consider the (2013 annual) Amnesty International report on Russia to be biased and politically motivated. “This organization’s report once again criticizes the human rights situation, and Amnesty International is consistent when it comes to this. On the whole, the report is, as always, biased and politically motivated,” the head of the […]

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Some political experts say Amnesty International report on Russia based on opposition evaluations

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 23, 2013) Some political experts say that the annual report of Amnesty International human rights organization on the state of human rights in Russia is a political order based on statements coming from radical opposition. “On the one hand, conclusions made in the report are based on the opinions of opposition radicals, on the other, they […]

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Russian Foreign Ministry says U.S. State Department’s religious freedom report politicized

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 23, 2013) The 2012 international religious freedom report of the U.S. State department has been done superficially and does not reflect the objective situation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “We are to conclude that the U.S. State Department has again presented a contorted and politicized picture of the situation in the religious freedom sphere in the […]

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Amnesty Report Slams ‘Repressive Legislation’

Russian Jail File Photo Showing Outer Wall, Windows, Barbed Wire

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 23, 2013) Amnesty International said Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin was marked by large-scale attacks on freedom of assembly and of expression, resulting in a large number of politically motivated criminal cases and repressive legislation. “Two new laws and 11 amendments to current legislation were made last year amid broadly weakened dissent,” head […]

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Russian Laws, Policies Restrict Religious Freedom – US Report

Department of State Signage and Headquarters Building File Photo

(RIA Novosti – WASHINGTON, May 20, 2013) ­ Russia is among several countries around the world including Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, and China that imposed restrictions on freedom of religion last year, according to an annual report released Monday by the US State Department. “This report is a clear-eyed, objective look at the state of religious freedom around […]

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Russia Urges EU to Avoid Ideology-Based Remarks on NGO Law

EU Map

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 21, 2013) The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday urged the European Union to abstain from “ideology-based” remarks on the issue of non-governmental organizations in Russia. The statement, posted on the ministry’s website, was made in the wake of the May 17 meeting between the Foreign Ministry’s Special Representative for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule […]

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Kremlin Faces Barbs From All Sides on Human Rights

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – May 21, 2013) Russia is facing a renewed barrage of international criticism, led by the European Union, over its human rights record in connection with an ongoing clampdown on non-governmental organizations and a State Duma proposal to ban so-called “homosexual propaganda.” The EU on Friday expressed growing concerns about the situation, including […]

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Is this the end for Russian NGOs?

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Julia Reed in Moscow – May 17, 2013) In an April 5 interview to the German channel ARD, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that in the four months after the July law on non-government organisations (NGOs) that brands those that accept donations from aboard as “foreign agents” has been adopted, 654 Russian NGOs received […]

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Putin’s Patriotism: Duma May Make Criticism of WWII Illegal

File Photo of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – May 17, 2013) Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series on state initiatives to promote patriotism. The State Duma has ordered an evaluation of a comment made by opposition politician Leonid Gozman in which he compared a Soviet intelligence agency to Adolf Hitler’s SS on the grounds that the comment […]

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Judicial probe needed into activities of Stalin’s security agencies – rights group

File Photo of Prison in Russia with Wall, Barbed Wire, Guard Tower

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 16, 2013) A leading Russian human rights group has called for a judicial inquiry into the activities of Stalin-era security services after a high-profile public figure accused a Soviet counterintelligence service that existed during World War II of methods similar to those of Nazi Germany’s security agencies. Leonid Gozman, head of humanitarian projects at state corporation […]

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Witness in Navalny Trial Backs Prosecutors’ Allegations

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – May 16, 2013) A witness in the trial on large-scale embezzlement charges against opposition blogger Alexei Navalny testified Thursday that the defendant had offered a disadvantageous contract to a state company that he is accused of defrauding. Larisa Bastrygina, deputy director of KirovLes, told the Leninsky District Court in Kirov that Navalny, […]

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Golos vote-monitoring association may be suspended if not registered as foreign agent – official

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 15, 2013) The operations of the Golos association specializing in monitoring elections in Russia may be suspended for half a year if a court recognizes it as a foreign agent but it still refuses to be registered as such, a Justice Ministry official has said. Speaking at a roundtable discussion at the State Duma on Wednesday, […]

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Russia: No NGOs Have Registered As ‘Foreign Agents’

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(RIA Novosti – May 15, 2013) None of the NGOs financed from abroad and involved in political activities have fulfilled their obligations under the law that requires them to register as “foreign agents”, RIA Novosti new agency quoted the deputy director of the Justice Ministry’s department for NGO issues, Tatyana Vagina, as saying in the State Duma on 15 May. […]

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Recycling Old Soviet Chestnuts

Kremlin and Moscow Environs Aerial View

(opendemocracy.net – Daniel Treisman – May 10, 2013) Daniel Treisman is a Professor of Political Science at UCLA. His work focuses on the politics and political economy of Russia, and on comparative political economy. However much the regime might try to plot a new political trajectory, its only success is in intensifying a feeling of drift and improvisation. Unforced errors […]

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Russian rights activists, U.S. secretary of state did not discuss Magnitsky bill, Bolotnaya case

File Photo of John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov at Separte Podiums, Kerry with a Visible Earpiece; Adapted from Photo at state.gov

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 8, 2013) Russian human rights activists did not discuss the work of NGOs in their meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Moscow Helsinki Group Chairman Lyudmila Alekseyeva told reporters on Wednesday. “We discussed the persecution of NGOs. Kerry was impressed by our story. We did not discuss financing,” Alekseyeva said. “We did not discuss […]

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Ponomaryov likes idea of Russian-U.S. fund to help human rights movement

Stylized Russian and U.S. Flags with Number 200, 1807-2007

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 8, 2013) Lev Ponomaryov, executive director of the movement For Human Rights, said human rights activists who have recently met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry proposed the creation of a Russian-U.S. fund to help the human rights movement. “I made a proposal to create a Russian-U.S. fund to support the human rights movement on […]

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Russian rights veteran says ‘irritating’ NGOs will not avoid ‘foreign agent’ tag

Lyudmila Alekseyeva file photo

(Interfax – May 8, 2013) Russian rights veteran and head of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseyeva has said that the fate of certain NGOs is sealed as regards being required to register as a “foreign agent”. She also criticized the incumbent authorities for their crackdown on dissenters but said she did not expect the return of an Iron Curtain. […]

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Rights Activists Tell Kerry About State Pressure

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 8, 2013) The leaders of some of Russia’s largest nongovernmental organizations raised their concerns about a Kremlin crackdown during a meeting Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry, who was wrapping up a two-day visit, met with the NGO representatives at Spaso House, the Moscow residence of U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul, before […]

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Rights Champions: Kremlin Wants to Close Russian NGOs

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(RIA Novosti – Alexey Eremenko – MOSCOW, May 8, 2013) ­ The Kremlin is trying to force the majority of independent nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Russia to shut down their operations, the leaders of two prominent Russian human rights groups said on Wednesday. “Independent [nongovernmental] organizations will simply cease to exist,” Lev Ponomaryov, the head of the For Human Rights […]

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Three More Russian NGOs Branded ‘Foreign Agents’ – Report

Kremlin and Moscow Environs Aerial View

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 8, 2013) The Prosecutor General’s Office has branded three more Russian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as “foreign agents” saying they were financed from abroad, Izvestia daily reported on Wednesday. The latest in a series of NGOs to be listed as foreign agents are the Moscow School of Political Studies, the Urals human rights group and the […]

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The government inspectors

Vladimir Putin file photo

(opendemocracy.net – Anna Sevortian – May 1, 2013) Anna Sevortian is an independent expert who was formerly the Director of Human Rights Watch Russia. Gogol’s government inspector was a figure of fun. Russia’s new government inspectors are anything but funny. At a meeting with FSB leaders on 14 February, Vladimir Putin put an end to any doubts about his intention […]

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The Uphill Job of Mending Fences with the Kremlin

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Leaning Towards Barack Hussein Obama With Flags Behind Them

(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 83 – Pavel Felgenhauer – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – May 2, 2013) Speaking to reporters after last week’s (April 25) lengthy, televised, national question-and-answer (Q & A) session, President Vladimir Putin declared he “was optimistic this tragedy [the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing] will facilitate greater security cooperation, benefiting both America and Russia” […]

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