Russia’s Former PM Kasyanov Warns Kremlin Builds Dictatorship
02.04.06
MosNews A former Russian prime minister has warned that his country is slipping into a dictatorship similar to the harsh regime in neighboring Belarus, The Sunday Times reported.
Mikhail Kasyanov, 48, sacked by President Vladimir Putin in 2004 for questioning his commitment to democracy, said the Kremlin had become so despotic that people increasingly lived in fear.
“If Russia continues along the current course it will end up like the regime of Alexander Lukashenko,” he said, referring to the hardline president of Belarus, widely condemned in the West as Europe’s last dictator. “An atmosphere of fear is being created and a sense that everyone is under the state’s control. These are the first steps towards a totalitarian system. There is practically no press freedom, the judiciary is no longer independent and public opinion is manipulated.”
Kasyanov plans to challenge for the presidency in 2008, when Putin’s second ... >>full
Hundreds Protest in Moscow Against Existing Military Service System
01.04.2006
MosNews Hundreds protested in central Moscow on Saturday, calling for an end to mandatory military service and criticizing plans to cut draft deferments as the Russian armed forced began their spring conscription campaign, AP reported.
The demonstration, part of a nationwide campaign led by opposition politicians and anti-draft activists, drew about people to Pushkin Square. Many chanted slogans or held posters saying ’’the Army is Slavery’’ or ’’Draft: No,’’ and some called for resignation of Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and President Vladimir Putin.
The protest came as the government prepares to scrap a series of deferments — a move Ivanov says is necessary to fulfill plans to reduce the term of mandatory service from two years to one — and amid public dismay over a horrific case that highlighted the persistent problem of abuse in the military.
The protest was timed to coincide with the start ... >>full
US university researcher released in southwest Russia Published on April 2, 2006
Makhachkala, Russia - US university researcher Kelly McEvers was to leave for Moscow on Sunday after four days of police questioning in the volatile southwest Russian province of Dagestan, the woman's lawyer said.
"Today she is planning to fly to Moscow," Yusup Dzhakhbarov, a lawyer for McEvers, told AFP.
Police had been holding McEvers as a witness in a case against a man accused of carrying out a series of attacks in Chechnya, Dzhakhbarov said.
The man's phone number was apparently found in one of McEvers' notebooks but she said she did not know him, Dzhakhbarov added.
McEvers is a fellow at Johns Hopkins University's International Reporting Project who has produced radio reports and written articles about Russia and Southeast Asia for US publications as a freelance journalist.
She was also asked about her contacts with Chechen separatist leader Akhmed Zakayev, who lives in London, ... >>full
EU Lawmakers Blast Belarus, Russia The Associated Press
STRASBOURG, France -- The European Parliament urged EU governments on Thursday not to recognize Alexander Lukashenko as Belarussian president and called for travel bans on representatives of local, regional and national authorities involved in human rights violations in the country.
In a strongly worded resolution, EU lawmakers also slammed President Vladimir Putin and the State Duma for welcoming Lukashenko's re-election in the March presidential vote.
"The effectiveness of EU policies toward Belarus is undermined by the irresponsible attitude of the Moscow authorities, who are lending decisive support to the last dictatorship in Europe," said the nonbinding resolution, which is used as a form of political pressure on EU governments before an April 10-11 meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg, where Belarus will be discussed.
Belarus' Foreign Ministry on Thursday dismissed Western criticism the elections as "laughable."
Frame from NTV Channel Frame from NTV Channel Communist Rally Banned in Moscow
08.04.2006
MosNews
Up to 3,000 policemen have been patrolling downtown Moscow in order to stop Communists from holding a protest rally near Kremlin, local media reported. Although the city authorities refused to issue a permission for the anti-governmental action, about 5,000 people with red flags came to city center.
According to Ekho Moskvy radio station, protestors agreed to cancel the rally and went to a nearby Teatralnaya Square to hold a plain meeting there.
Head of the Moscow Communist Party branch Vladimir Ulas told Interfax that the Moscow authorities banned the rally under “an absolutely far-fetched excuse”, explaining that it would disturb traffic.
Communists have been also carrying out protest actions that pro-Kremlin United Russia member Vladimir Kashin called “illegal” in several cities across Russia.
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