Human Rights
Thursday 17 August 2017
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RT
Russian government-funded international broadcaster
“Afghan military are suspected of molesting minors. However, a public acknowledgement of this fact would mean a rupture of the U.S. relationship with Kabul. But Washington has invested about $700 billion in the Afghan campaign over the last 15 years and is not ready to lose its investments."
Read more...SIGAR and State Department actually acknowledged the problem publicly. -
Aleksandr Zakharchenko
leader of Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's Donetsk region
“Our desire is to create favorable conditions for the work of the OSCE mission, full cooperation. I would like the whole world to know what is happening in the DPR.”
Read more...In fact, obstruction of OSCE monitors and armed attacks on their patrols have mounted in recent weeks with clear indication of separatist responsibility. -
Dmitry Medvedev
Russian Prime Minister
“Russia carried out an operation to enforce peace. We could not do otherwise, according to both the law and our conscience.”
Read more...While he is right that Georgian forces violated international law in their attack on Tskhinvali, the following Russian invasion saw massive violations of humanitarian law. -
Denis Pushilin
leader of the Russia-backed separatists in Donetsk region
"These outrageous facts of the violations of the Minsk agreements by Ukrainian forces has not elicited a reaction on the part of the leadership of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission."
Read more...The charge by the separatist leader came after reports by the OSCE monitors noting the movement of military vehicles between Russia and separatist-controlled areas of southeastern Ukraine as well as the refusal by the separatists allowing monitors access to a separatist-controlled area. As for the monitors' reports, regularly site violations by both sides, however most are committed by the separatists. -
Tatyana Moskalkova
Russia's human rights ombudsman
“Four times fewer Russian citizens are going to the European Criminal Court [sic]. Because today the European court doesn’t meet our ideas of justice. It takes a long time to consider things, selectively.”
Read more...Russia’s human rights ombudsman, Tatyana Moskalkova, claims Russians are turning away from the European Court of Human Rights, but her figures are hard to back up. -
Russian Embassy to the United Kingdom
“Racist posters in Kiev. Russian language equal to infection and bad IQ. Food for thought.”
Read more...Despite Russian embassy claim, no such posters have been spotted in Ukrainian capital outside of an exhibition at a Kyiv art gallery in 2015. -
Maria Zakharova
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson
“There has been a real substitution of information. The CNN report was aimed at manipulating public opinion.”
Read more...It is unclear why Zakharova singled out CNN for criticism when Daqneesh’s story had been widely covered by international media. The timing of her comments, several weeks after the boy reappeared, may well be more to do with a scandal at CNN. -
Elmurod Rasulmukhamedov
First Deputy Chairman of the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation
“The information about the green spaces targeted for renovation was apparently taken from a CIA spy satellite.”
Read more...Moscow’s controversial urban renewal project has prompted discussion among environmentalists, with Greenpeace Russia warning it could have damaging consequences. One Russian organization, however, falsely accused Greenpeace of using CIA spy satellite data to fabricate the report. -
Vladimir Putin
Russian President
"We have hundreds of television companies and radio companies. The state doesn't control them at all, it is simply impossible."
Read more...While the state does not own all TV or engage in prior censorship, TV stations deemed too critical of the Kremlin have been forced off the air; large opposition protests are ignored, causing critics to turn to YouTube as an alternative. -
Nikolai Patrushev
chairman of the Russian Security Council
“Western technologists have not renounced their plans to implement 'color scenarios' in our country […]. As a rule, such an outburst of activity from opposition forces is observed in the run-up to federal election campaigns. It is no accident that the West is allocating financial and material means to non-governmental organizations in Russia and creating so-called "independent" Russian-language mass media.”
Read more...Due to Kremlin crackdown, few foreign-funded NGOs or independent media operating in Russia. Those that still do are not involved in elections such as the forthcoming 2018 presidential ballot. -
Maria Zakharova
Spokesperson, Russian Foreign Ministry
“The most acute anxiety is being experienced by the Football Association of Norway, which on May 16 sent the International Federation of Association Football [FIFA] a letter that contains a request to launch an investigation into the use of immigrant labor in the construction of the Zenit Arena stadium in St. Petersburg under conditions reminiscent of modern slavery, without registration, for a beggarly payment and so on. This topic is an instrument of political pressure and blackmail, and in this case, it is an information campaign. We urge you to not react to these fakes.”
Read more...Russia’s Foreign Ministry has denied that North Koreans building a stadium for the 2018 World Cup in St. Petersburg are working under conditions reminiscent of modern slavery, calling these accusations “fake” and “political blackmail.” However, several international organizations, including FIFA, the world football body, and the United Nations confirm these violations of labor rights in Russia. -
Channel One
Russian state television broadcaster
“The case against Russian citizen Denis Katsyv, the owner of the Prevezon company and the first defendant under so-called Magnitsky law, actually fell apart in a New York federal court.”
Read more...Russian state TV’s Channel One reported on May 24 that the U.S. government case against a Russian businessman accused of money laundering under the Magnitsky Act “actually fell apart” in a New York federal court. In fact, a settlement was reached in the case, with the defendant paying the U.S. Treasury nearly $6 million, pending court approval.