Human Rights
Wednesday 20 February 2019
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![Rossiya 1]()
Rossiya 1
State-owned Russian television channel
“Manufactured Crisis! Venezuelan ‘Refugees’ in Columbia Come for Day-Long Shopping Trips!”
Read more...An aid convoy blocked and tens of thousands of Venezuelans crossing the border every day to get food and medicine, a Rossiya 1 correspondent at the Colombian border town of Cucuta reports a “Manufactured Crisis” – saying that people are taking “shopping trips.” But the facts show otherwise. -
![Vyacheslav Volodin]()
Vyacheslav Volodin
Speaker of the State Duma
“A bill of [the] Verkhovna Rada that restricts the rights of observers at the elections of the President of Ukraine violates the international law.”
Read more...While Ukraine's banning of Russian citizens from entering the country to take part in the OSCE election monitoring mission is "without precedent," it does not violate international law, and there will still be OSCE observers. Only two members of the team were Russian citizens. -
![Alexander Brod]()
Alexander Brod
Member of the Presidential Human Rights Council
“These [Freedom House] reports are politically motivated and are used as an additional element of pressure on the country … they made a bogeyman out of Russia and constantly throw in negative information.”
Read more...Russian officials label reports by independent watchdog groups as politically motivated. But Freedom House’s report finds a steady decline in freedom around the world over the last 13 years, and raises the alarm particularly about threats to democracy in the United States. -
![Konstantin Kosachev]()
Konstantin Kosachev
Chairman, International Affairs Committee, Russia’s Federation Council
"Guaido’s status cannot be determined from abroad, whether by the president of the United States or any other country. It can be determined only by the people of Venezuela and only by constitutional means. In this sense, for Russia the presidential status of Guaido doesn’t exist."
Read more...The U.S. is just one of many countries and international organizations which recognize the interim presidency of Venezuelan opposition politician Juan Guaido. Many of these countries didn't recognize Maduro’s controversial reelection in 2018. His original term ended on January 10, 2019. -
![Maria Zakharova]()
Maria Zakharova
Spokesperson, Russian Foreign Ministry
“Demanding from the Russian side answers to queries by investigators that seemingly have already been fully answered by Russia, the Dutch authorities simply categorically refuse to give up their own secrets, which could be useful in the course of investigation.”
Read more...While the Joint Investigation Team has not shared with Russia all of the material from its ongoing investigation of the MH-17 shoot-down, they have concluded Russia is to blame for the downing, and say Moscow has not fully responded to the Joint Investigative Team requests. -
![Dmitry Kiselyov]()
Dmitry Kiselyov
TV News Presenter, CEO, Rossiya Segodnya state information agency
“The new American fashion is hostages. Back at the beginning of the 21st century, only bandits and terrorists took hostages. They have a goal -- they seize a person or several and demand the fulfillment of their wishes from others.”
Read more...None of the Russian people Kiselyov names are “hostages.” One was convicted in court, another pleaded guilty, and one has not even been arrested. Reasonable protests have been made in the fourth case, but there have been no demands from the U.S. as terms for release. -
![Sergei Nosov]()
Sergei Nosov
Governor of Russia's Magadan region
“I note that we’ve never, even in the days of tsarist Russia, killed people for dissent. This, by the way, is the great strength of our people.”
Read more...Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union have persecuted dissidents, sometimes using capital punishment. Modern Russia has abolished the death penalty, although a number of dissidents and journalists have been murdered, their cases remaining unsolved. -
![RT Russian Service]()
RT Russian Service
State-owned media outlet
“In December 2018, in the Odessa region, unknown persons organized a pogrom at a church in the village of Semenovka, Belgorod-Dniester district. The attackers stole donations and desecrated the church premises.”
Read more...The incident in the Odessa region was totally unrelated to the fire in Kyiv, and it was an act of vandalism.” No motive has been established. In Kyiv, police detained a 24-year-old homeless man who is accused of setting fire to some mattresses. -
![Alvi Karimov]()
Alvi Karimov
Press Secretary for Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov
“This is an absolute lie, without a grain of truth, not a single percent of reality. There were not and could not have been any detentions on the grounds of sexual orientation during this period in the Chechen Republic.”
Read more...The New Year has brought fresh claims of LGBTI detentions in Chechnya, which local authorities have denied. But there is a lack of transparency in a country that allows no independent media, where independent investigations are stifled -- hindering efforts to determine what is happening. -
![Leonid Slutsky]()
Leonid Slutsky
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the State Duma
“It’s a provocation, specifically to coerce the Russian delegation to slam the door and pull out of PACE.”
Read more...The Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly's letter sent to Russia and all other member states proved Slutsky’s claim was false. The letter said all PACE delegations should include at least “one member of the under-represented sex appointed as a representative.” -
![Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom]()
Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom
Russian Embassy
"Meanwhile, the investigation is still not allowed to tell the public where S. (Sergei) and Y. (Yulia) Skripal were, and what they were doing after they drove from their home in the direction of Porton Down laboratory with phones supposedly turned off on the morning of March 4."
Read more...The road on which the Skripals were spotted leads to Porton Down, but it also leads to the cemetery where Sergei’s wife and son are buried. It was established long ago that Sergei and his daughter drove to visit their graves. -
![Russian Embassy in Canada]()
Russian Embassy in Canada
A screen shot of the Russian Embassy in Canada's Twitter account.
“#FreeMariaButina is a showcase that exposes all bias & hypocrisy of #feminist agenda, actively promoted in some western countries … #MeToo someone?”
Read more...The Russian Embassy in Canada has tried to tie the conspiracy case of Maria Butina to the Me Too movement against sexual harassment and assault. The embassy said her conviction shows the “bias and hypocritical” nature of western feminism. But Butina’s prosecution has no link to #metoo or feminism.
