In my recent article on torture, I mentioned the case of Nikita Belykh, the politically active ex-governor of Kirov Region, who was arrested on a questionable charge in June 2016. On March 17, 2017, Nikita Belykh was indicted on a new bribery charge in a Moscow court. In response, Belykh firmly stated that he “has never taken bribes and has no… Read More »
On March 9, 2017, Yury Dmitriev, head of the Karelian branch of the International Memorial Society, was additionally charged in the Petrozavodsk City Court (Karelia). As I’ve already written, previously he was charged with child pornography (Article 242.2 of the Russian Criminal Code). Now charges of dissolute acts against a minor (Article 135) and illegal possession of weapons (Article… Read More »
On February 1, 2017, the International Memorial Society filed a lawsuit to the Simonovsky Regional court in Moscow against the REN TV (the Russian federal channel available also in the U.S.). The legal action was triggered by the REN’s report on the awards ceremony at the end of the 17th All-Russian Competition entitled “A Man in the History… Read More »
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, has introduced just released House Resolution 58 into the 115 Congress calling on Russia to open their archives to assist Wallenberg researchers to finally settle the question of Raoul Wallenberg’s fate. Ros-Lehtinen, together with Rep. Nina Lowey (D-NY) jointly released a press… Read More »
Maria Zakhrova, director of Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Ministry’s official representative, displayed blatant Antisemitism in her comments on the U.S. presidential elections. On November 13, 2016, she explained on the Russian TV (Channel 1) talk-show “Sunday Evening” (hosted by Vladimir Soloviev) that the Jews and their money were the decisive factor in the… Read More »
Donald Trump’s victory in the US prompted cheers of Russian officials. On November 9, during a plenary session of the Russian Duma (Parliament), Vyacheslav Molotov’s grandson, Vyacheslav Nikonov, known for his nationalist and anti-American statements, addressed to the audience: “Dear friends, dear colleagues, three minutes ago Hillary Clinton acknowledged her defeat in the presidential elections of the United… Read More »
On October 10, 2016, Aleksandr Khinstein, the editor of General Ivan Serov’s memoir Notes from a Suitcase, gave a short speech on the Russian TV (Channel 1) talk-show Evening with Vladimir Soloviev. He stated that Russia will successfully overcome international sanctions and the threat of “color revolutions”: “[Russian] President [Putin] has signed a law about the National Guard… Read More »
On October 11, 2016, which is the 46th anniversary of the Nobel Prize in Literature award received by the Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, primarily for his book The Gulag Archipelago, young activists of the group Revolutionary Communist Youth Union (RKSM) hung a dummy with Solzhenitsyn’s mask on the gates of the GULAG History Museum in Moscow. A sign with… Read More »