Human Rights
Wednesday 28 February 2018
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“There is not even a grain of truth in it. Attempts were made by certain forces, through bribery, promises of visas and residence permits in Europe, to persuade young people to make statements about being affiliated with gays and being persecuted for that. The topic of gays is only part of a large-scale information and psychological attack being carried out against Chechnya by organizations financed by the U.S. government and international organizations sponsored by Western intelligence agencies. In Chechnya, men have only one orientation, and its impact is evidenced by the highest birth rate in the country.”
Karimov’s statement does not align with numerous reports reflected in the Amnesty International’s annual report on the declining rights of the Chechen gays (p. 312, “Rights of Lesbian, Gay,….”) but copies earlier statements made to Vladimir Putin by Ramzan Kadyrov denying existence of any gays in Chechnya. -
"These are unfounded accusations. It is unclear what they are based on: no concrete data is provided. We do not agree with this."
The U.S., the United Nations, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Kuwait, and other countries, along with scores of humanitarian organizations, say Moscow and Damascus are responsible for the bombing that killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta, Syria. -
“Material about the deaths of dozens and hundreds of Russian citizens – it is classic disinformation. It was not 400, not 200, not 100 and not 10. Preliminary figures indicate that as a result of the armed clash that took place, the causes of which are now being investigated, we can talk about the deaths of five people, presumably citizens of Russia. There are also wounded, but all this needs to be verified – in particular, and first and foremost, [their] citizenship; whether they are citizens of Russia or other countries.”
Eight Russians killed in the incident have already been identified in press reports, and multiple sources suggest the number of Russian deaths is much higher. -
"In the EU countries, the flashmob #sorry launched by residents of Germany, Sweden, Denmark and other European countries has spread. The aim of the action is for European women to apologize to refugees for their depraved behavior and clothing that forced migrants to commit sexual violence against women."
There is no source or evidence for the existence of this flashmob, and the photo of the girl has been altered. -
"On February 3, while flying over the Idlib de-escalation zone for controlling ceasefire regime observance, [a] Russian Su-25 pair lead-aircraft was hit by a missile launched from a MANPAD.”
Experts have challenged the Russian Defense Ministry’s claim that the Su-25 shot down in Syria’s Idlib province was on a “ceasefire observance” mission, pointing to video footage showing that the Russian fighter jet launched an airstrike approximately 15 seconds before it was hit by a shoulder-fired missile. -
The charter establishing Russian government international broadcasters RT and Sputnik requires they cover government policy and also “public life in the Russian Federation.” During and after “Voter’s Strike” rallies held across Russia on Sunday, January 28, those protests were largely absent from the front pages of RT and Sputnik websites, despite the arrests of hundreds of people and the opposition leader.
Source: RT, Sputnik, December 28, 2017Russian government international broadcaster RT reported the January 28 "Voters Strike" on the Web and its television programs on Sunday and Monday - though the multi-city rallies did not receive as much attention on the government sites as on independent media. RT and Sputnik, the flagships of Russia's international broadcasting, did not appear to carry the story on their mobile newsfeeds late Sunday. Polygraph.info is happy to correct its earlier story and explain further the context of RT's coverage. -
“We expect a great atmosphere in Russia… a smooth operation and everything is done for the fans.”
Since Russia was chosen to host the 2018 World Cup, it has been the subject of a massive anti-doping investigation, banned from participation in the Olympics, and accused of worker exploitation and the mass killing of stray animals as part of the preparations for the world soccer tournament. The U.S. Justice Department investigates a firm, that helped Russia to win the 2018 World Cup bid. In addition, Russian soccer hooligans have been banned from the European Union for violence. -
"We waited for more than 70 years for the rehabilitation of the Crimean Tatar people, which they saw come true thanks to our president (in spring 2015, the Russian president signed a decree on measures to rehabilitate the Armenian, Bulgarian, Greek, Crimean-Tatar and German peoples-TASS). For more than 20 years (when Crimea was part of Ukraine-TASS) we asked that the Crimean Tatar language be a state language in Crimea, and only saw this come true after the reunification of the peninsula with Russia."
A "Crimean Tatar" leader says his people support Vladimir Putin in his bid for reelection in March. But does he really speak for the Crimean Tatar people? -
“There is a new social network being tested in Chechnya @ Mylistory, which is as good as the foreign ones”
Although designed as a clone of Instagram, Mylistory, unlike the original app, is controlled by the Chechen government and used as a propaganda tool -- and, possibly, a surveillance tool. -
“The fact that the U.S. State Department is advising its citizens against travel to Russia is quite logical: if U.S. citizens go to Russia en masse, they will be able to see with their own eyes that there is not a trace of what U.S. officials routinely frighten them with.”
Russian government media have been promoting anti-American sentiments for years, U.S. diplomats have been harassed and intimidated in the Russian media and by Russian law enforcement, and U.S. organizations have been expelled and churches labeled as “extremist.” In addition, a Public Opinion Survey released on January 10 found that majority of Russians see the U.S. as Russia’s “enemy #1” -
There is no doubt that the U.S. delegation has something to tell the world. For example, Nikki Haley can share the American experience of dispersal of protest actions, tell in detail how, for example, mass arrests and suppression of the Occupy Wall Street movement were carried out or Ferguson was "cleansed.”
While the responses to Occupy Wall Street and Ferguson merit legitimate concern, they are not comparable to the protests in Iran. -
“Why do we seem to have vocal and proactive opposition members in this country but they do not really provide any serious competition to the incumbent authorities? You know, Russia’s path in the past decades has been quite remarkable, to put it mildly. Why is that? Of course, some younger people do not remember or do not even know what was happening here in the 1990s and the early 2000s. So they cannot really compare it to the present situation.”
Putin explains that the reason he faces no serious rivals for the presidency is due to the accomplishments of Russia during his tenure, and implies that the opposition has no program. However, both domestic and foreign analyses of the past 17 years say that Russia’s accomplishments have been largely negated thanks to Putin’s own policies. There also are domestic political reasons why Putin’s rivals are weakened, which he does not mention.