Russia Says 20 Caucasus Groups Shut Down
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posted by eagle on October, 2012 as Human Rights
Russia Says 20 Caucasus Groups Shut DownPublished: October 13, 2012
MOSCOW — The Federal Security Service, Russia’s main domestic intelligence agency, announced on Saturday that it had shut down 20 nongovernmental organizations in southern Russia after discovering links to foreign spy agencies. But aid groups in the region said no such organizations had been closed, raising suspicions that the announcement was in fact a threat.
At first, the statement seemed to fit a recent pattern of pressure on humanitarian aid groups. In Moscow, Russian officials have shut down foreign-financed humanitarian aid organizations like the United States Agency for International Development and Unicef. But aid groups active in the Ingushetia region in southern Russia, where the 20 nongovernmental organizations are said to be located, said not one had been closed in recent months, for any reason. The disconnect, they said, illustrates the eerie way the security agency, a successor to the K.G.B., sometimes operates. Tanya ... >> full...
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Sochi Olympics Provide the West with Leverage in Dealings with Russia
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posted by eagle on as Human Rights
Sochi Olympics Provide the West with Leverage in Dealings with Russia
Sochi Olympics Provide the West with Leverage in Dealings with RussiaOn September 23, Circassian activists staged worldwide public protests in support of Syria’s Circassians. Activists took to the streets in several Turkish cities, in Germany and in the United States. In the North Caucasus, protests were held in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Maikop, Adygea. In Moscow and Sukhumi, Abkhazia, protest actions were held jointly by Circassian and Abkhaz activists (http://www.ekhokavkaza.com/content/article/24718732.html). The activists demanded that Moscow assist Syrian Circassians who have been caught up in Syria’s civil conflict by repatriating them to the North Caucasus. The Circassians originally ended up in Syria following the Russian conquest of the North Caucasus in the 19th century. The Russian government killed and expelled an estimated 90 percent of the Circassians from the North Caucasus as it wanted to effectively Russify the strategically important Black Sea coast ... >> full...
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Russia: Halt House Demolition for Olympics
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posted by eagle on September, 2012 as Human Rights
Family With Small Children Facing HomelessnessThe Russian authorities are proceeding with this demolition and eviction in an utterly reckless manner that completely flies in the face of the Olympic principles of human dignity and respect. The IOC needs to get the federal and Sochi authorities to stop this immediately or this family will be made homeless in the name of the Olympics. Jane Buchanan, senior researcher for Europe and Central Asia
(Moscow) – The Russian authorities’ illegal bulldozing on a property in Sochi is a stain on the 2014 Winter Olympic Games preparations, Human Rights Watch said today. ... >> full...
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A Call to Investigate Russian Governor’s Comments
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posted by eagle on August, 2012 as Human Rights
A Call to Investigate Russian Governor’s CommentsPublished: August 4, 2012MOSCOW — A member of a Kremlin-sponsored civic chamber will ask state prosecutors to investigate racially tinged statements made by the governor of the Krasnodar region, a close ally of PresidentVladimir V. Putin, to see if the remarks violate Russian law on incitement of ethnic hatred. In a speech to police officers on Thursday, Gov. Aleksandr Tkachev, whose region will host the 2014 Olympics, announced that as of September, 1,000 Cossacks would be paid from the budget to maintain public order. He stressed the importance of controlling the migration of darker-skinned Muslims from the North Caucasus region, and said that the Cossacks — whose paramilitary forces served the czars — could take measures beyond what the police were allowed. "What you can’t do, the Cossacks can,” he told the officers in the speech, which was widely circulated on the Internet on Friday. ... >> full...
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Putin Signs NGO 'Foreign Agents' Law
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posted by eagle on July, 2012 as Human Rights
Putin Signs NGO 'Foreign Agents' LawMonday, July 30, 2012
Russian President Vladimir Putin
By RFE/RL July 21, 2012 The Kremlin press service reports that President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a controversial bill that requires nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) which receive funding from abroad to register with the Justice Ministry as "foreign agents." The law, which was cleared by the upper house of parliament and the Federation Council earlier in July, tightens control on the foreign-funded NGOs by compelling them to file detailed quarterly financial reports on their actitivies to Russian authorities every quarter. And it makes it possible for targeted NGOs to be subjected to regular and unannounced inspections. Violations of the law are punishable by sizeable financial penalties or potential imprisonment. The bill has caused huge concern among activists who fear it will be used to stigmatise NGOs critical of government activities or policies.
Law Criticized Observers have noted that the term "foreign agent" is synonymous with espionage ... >> full...
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