Human Rights
Thursday 25 July 2019
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“Women are weaker intellectually [than men]. Of course, there are some Marie Curies, though that is rare.”
Biopsychosocial studies show significant differences between the sexes. How these differences affect general intelligence remains a subject of academic discussion. Smirnov’s comment made headlines throughout Russia and sparked a public discussion. -
"#Ukraine’s language law comes into force, prohibiting Russian from being spoken by doctors and teachers. Clear violation of human rights and #MinskAgreements."
Ukraine’s new language law does not prohibit doctors from using Russian or any other language with a patient. Doctors can be penalized only if they refuse to speak Ukrainian. -
“The collective West continues the campaign to discredit the efforts by Syria and Russia aimed at countering the terrorists in the Idlib zone. They [the West] are conducting all possible informational provocations, engaging the ‘White Helmets’ who tell tales about the ‘atrocities’ of Bashar Asad’s regime that brings death to ordinary Syrians. But at the same time, they do not provide any real proof of their claims, and this kind of disinformation is very difficult to counter. Especially if biased news agencies like Fox News and CBS are used to distribute various fake stories.”
UN recorded 29 incidents involving attacks on 25 health facilities, transport and personnel, 45 attacks on schools since the end of April; at least 544 civilians, including 130 children have been killed, another 2,117 people injured in the attacks carried out by Russian jets and the Syrian army -
"From the board of the International Space Station, I got to see with the naked eye, how the bombs and shells exploded in the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk. And they were flying from the side of the location of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At that time, unarmed people died there."
Serova claimed she saw artillery shelling, at night, from an approximate altitude of 408 km (254 mi), and was able to determine where the shells were being fired from and where they landed. This is impossible. -
“Liberalism worships two things: money and debauchery ... Eventually, this worship made all democracies morph into atheistic regimes, who’ve been witch-hunting all of the major religions.”
A Russian political analyst claimed on state TV that liberal democracies morph into atheistic regimes which conduct religious witch hunts. But the evidence shows that illiberal and authoritarian regimes, including Russia itself, pose a far greater threat to religious freedom. -
"We really have a very smooth relationship with members of the LGBT community – really calm, perfectly unbiased.”
After Elton John criticized him for his attitude towards LGBT people, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Russia has a “neutral” attitude toward sexual minorities. However, from courts to rights groups, systemic discrimination against the LGBT community has been documented in Russia. -
“I want to remind you of the words of President Putin, that indeed the number of people whose incomes have decreased has slightly increased due to external economic conditions and in connection with a variety of economic processes that are taking place in our economy. At the same time, one cannot talk about the growth of poverty in this case.”
Russia’s statistics agency reported more than 12.9% of population, or 18.9 million people, were living below the poverty line in 2018. Other state agencies disputed official statistics saying the actual number of poor was nearly 30 million with 25% growth of poverty. -
"Aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces made four bombing strikes against terrorists in Idlib, the Defense Ministry reported. The coordinates for the attack were indicated by Ankara. This happened after the allied terrorists of Jabhat al-Nusra fired at a Turkish army observation post, despite a cease-fire agreement."
Turkish forces say their outpost was attacked from Syrian regime-held territory. Rebels in Idlib deny responsibility for the attack, and also deny having agreed to a ceasefire. -
“We live in a different world; the range of freedom of speech actually practiced in Russia is greater than anywhere else on the planet. That is because the fear is long gone, you can write and even sculpt anything.”
After the detention of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov, Russian state TV host Dmitry Kiselyov attacked those expressing censorship fears, claiming Russia has freer speech than anywhere else. But from the persecution of journalists to a crackdown of free expression online, this claim is false. -
"The Syrian Army has found medical equipment supplies, some of them German-made, in a field hospital thought to belong to the White Helmets, SANA reports."
The White Helmets is a first responder organization, so it would have medical equipment to perform its missions. It would also have gas masks and protective clothing. The rest of the article is packed with unsubstantiated claims. -
“Communist past revived in Russian schools”? Another #fake from @thetimes. Law prohibits political activity in Russian public schools. The photo was made at event held by the opposition Communist party.”
While schools worldwide often promote patriotism, there are reports of Russia's "Young Army" promoting the president, of history altered in textbooks to support state policy, students forced to participate in pro-Putin rallies and disciplined for repeating opposition messages. -
"The army was turned into a private business. A business where you profit from the officials. It is the business of selling the bodies of our soldiers, which are supplied from Ukraine to Europe."
The Russian TV channel NTV made a number of claims about former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and his wife Sandra Roelofs, including that she is part of black market organ harvesting in Eastern Ukraine. But the latest spin on this conspiracy theory is lacking in both evidence and logic.