The Russian press is reporting strong statements from United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the suppression of civil activists who work to develop democracy around the world, but in Russia in particular. The Moscow Times reports:

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton challenged what she calls a global crackdown on human rights during a trip through former Soviet republics over the weekend, lamenting a "steel vise” squeezing the life out of social activism.

Clinton arrived in Azerbaijan on Sunday after declaring in Poland that intolerant governments, including Russia’s, are undercutting rights groups whose work is vital to the development of democracy. She said the trend is apparent and growing worse, even in countries that call themselves democracies.

At the palatial residence of President Ilham Aliyev, overlooking the vast, glimmering Caspian Sea, Aliyev and Clinton spoke briefly before reporters and television ...

Russian automobile owners will have to pay nearly $1000 a year in taxes if the country’s crumbling transportation infrastructure is to be maintained – and that before plans for any new construction. Such was the conclusion announced at Monday’s press conference by Director Alexander Sarychev of the Scientific Research Institute (NII) for Transportation and Road Maintenance.

According to Sarychev, the fact that emergency repairs are often needed for unsafe bridges and roads in Russia "is connected with our poverty.” Even before any new roads are built, he said, routine maintenance of the existing transportation system would require one trillion rubles a year – about $32.2 billion.

"At the very height of development, in 2008, 300 billion ($9.67 billion) was spent on repairs and 270 billion ($8.7 billion) on construction. Automobile owners’ share of this sum is 200 billion ($6.5 billion),” said Sarychev.

The ...

A leading opposition activist in the south Russian city of Orel has been sentenced to ten days of police detainment despite a row of contradictory circumstances, testimony, and questionable behavior on the part of the judge and police involved in the oppositionist’s arrest, Kasparov.ru reports.

Georgy Sarkisyan, a leader in the regional branches of both the United Civil Front and Solidarity opposition movements, was first arrested on June 30. At the time, police blamed the activist with attempting to steal a cell phone – a charge that Sarkisyan and his representative, civil rights advocate Dmitry Krayukhin, dismissed as a "provocation.” On July 1, Judge Svetlana Sandulyak sent word to local police that the files submitted on Sarkisyan’s arrest were not in order. Beginning on the evening of July 5, police repeatedly attempted to enter the oppositionist’s apartment, and detained him ...