A prominent human rights activist in Russia's southern province of Ingushetia has been shot dead in at least the third killing of an opposition figure in the volatile North Caucasus region in as many months.
An opposition activist and businessman from Russia's Ingushetia region in the country's southwest was shot and killed in his car on Sunday. Local authorities reported that Maksharip Aushev was driving near the town of Nalchik in the nearby region of Kabardion-Balkaria when his car was sprayed with automatic-weapon fire. The attack also seriously wounded a passenger.
According to the opposition website, the attack took place on a main road, but the full circumstances remained unclear. Aushev was a strong critic of the region's former president, Murat Zyayikov, and had led protests to publicize human rights abuses allegedly committed by government security forces.
Colleagues of the slain activist are shocked and many have spoken out, including Yunus-Bek Yevkorov, the Kremlin appointee who took over the position of regional president a year ago. In a statement on his website, Yevkorov said the killing was an attempt to destabilize the situation in Ingushetia and that he would personally take charge of the investigation.
Alexander Cherkasov, from the human rights group Memorial, told Echo of Moscow radio that Aushev had received threats and that in recent weeks he feared the secret services would take revenge.
Attacks on the rise
This is just the latest in an increasing number of attacks over the past few months in the North Caucasus. In July, Natalya Estemirova, a prominent human rights activist, was found shot dead in Ingushetia. A month later, Zarema Sadulayeva, a Chechen woman who helped injured children, and her husband were kidnapped and killed.
The Russian government has blamed the attacks on Muslim insurgents, who it says are backed by foreign cash which threatens Moscow's control over the volatile southern region. The worst hit areas have been Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya. Russia has fought two wars against Chechen separatists since 1994.
Aushev had close ties with another prominent local opposition activist, Magomed Yevloyev, who was detained and killed by local police in August 2008. The website Ingushetia.org, which Aushev owned at one time, said the deaths of the two men were linked and that anyone who dared to speak against the authorities or speak the truth, is doomed to the fate shared by Magomed and Maksharip.
Tatiana Lochkina, director of Human Rights Watch in Moscow, agreed. She told Interfax that the killing "illustrates very clearly the atmosphere of impunity" in the region. She added that participating in opposition politics or defending basic freedoms in the North Caucasus has become "almost a form of suicide."
dinsdag 27 oktober 2009
zondag 25 oktober 2009
Russia's bridge to nowhere: Russki's Island Bridge
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/world/europe/21russia.html
See a video on the bridge to nowhere: Russki's Island Bridge
See a video on the bridge to nowhere: Russki's Island Bridge
vrijdag 23 oktober 2009
Sakharov Prize goes to Russian right group Memorial
Russia rights group wins EU prize
Russian rights group Memorial has won the European Parliament's annual Sakharov Prize, in memory of murdered activist Natalya Estemirova.
Estemirova was found dead in July in the Russian republic of Ingushetia after being abducted in Chechnya.
A Moscow court recently ordered Memorial to retract its accusation that the Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov was responsible for her murder.
Memorial campaigns against abuses in countries of the former Soviet Union.
'Circle of fear'
Awarding the prize, the European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek said people who defended human rights must be free to express themselves.
He said the assembly hoped "to contribute to ending the circle of fear and violence surrounding human rights defenders in the Russian Federation".
“ We see that the development of the situation is not going in the direction that we would have liked... The rights mechanisms that we worked out at the beginning of the 1990s are not working today ”
Oleg Orlov Memorial head
The prize, named after the late Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, went to Memorial head Oleg Orlov and the group's activists Sergei Kovalev and Lyudmilla Alexeyeva.
In a statement, Mr Orlov said: "I am flattered... that we have been awarded the Sakharov prize.
"In our view the prize has been awarded to the Russian rights movement. I am thankful for that," the statement said, according to AFP news agency.
But he admitted having concerns about the rights movement in Russia.
"We see that the development of the situation is not going in the direction that we would have liked," he said.
"This is also our fault. The rights mechanisms that we worked out at the beginning of the 1990s are not working today."
This month, Mr Orlov lost a defamation lawsuit brought by President Kadyrov. He was ordered to retract his accusations that Mr Kadyrov had been behind Estemirova's murder.
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, now in its 21st year, comes with a cash reward of 50,000 euros ($75,000; £45,000). It will be awarded at a ceremony in Strasbourg in December.
The Chinese dissident and civil rights campaigner Hu Jia won the prize last year.
Russian rights group Memorial has won the European Parliament's annual Sakharov Prize, in memory of murdered activist Natalya Estemirova.
Estemirova was found dead in July in the Russian republic of Ingushetia after being abducted in Chechnya.
A Moscow court recently ordered Memorial to retract its accusation that the Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov was responsible for her murder.
Memorial campaigns against abuses in countries of the former Soviet Union.
'Circle of fear'
Awarding the prize, the European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek said people who defended human rights must be free to express themselves.
He said the assembly hoped "to contribute to ending the circle of fear and violence surrounding human rights defenders in the Russian Federation".
“ We see that the development of the situation is not going in the direction that we would have liked... The rights mechanisms that we worked out at the beginning of the 1990s are not working today ”
Oleg Orlov Memorial head
The prize, named after the late Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, went to Memorial head Oleg Orlov and the group's activists Sergei Kovalev and Lyudmilla Alexeyeva.
In a statement, Mr Orlov said: "I am flattered... that we have been awarded the Sakharov prize.
"In our view the prize has been awarded to the Russian rights movement. I am thankful for that," the statement said, according to AFP news agency.
But he admitted having concerns about the rights movement in Russia.
"We see that the development of the situation is not going in the direction that we would have liked," he said.
"This is also our fault. The rights mechanisms that we worked out at the beginning of the 1990s are not working today."
This month, Mr Orlov lost a defamation lawsuit brought by President Kadyrov. He was ordered to retract his accusations that Mr Kadyrov had been behind Estemirova's murder.
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, now in its 21st year, comes with a cash reward of 50,000 euros ($75,000; £45,000). It will be awarded at a ceremony in Strasbourg in December.
The Chinese dissident and civil rights campaigner Hu Jia won the prize last year.
zondag 18 oktober 2009
Iran - Russia - IAEA
A team of Obama administration officials, joined by officials from France and Russia, will begin negotiating in Vienna on Monday with Iranian diplomats over terms of an unusual deal that could remove a significant amount of Tehran's low-enriched uranium from the country.
The administration views the deal -- which would convert the uranium into fuel for a research reactor used for medical purposes -- as a test of Iranian intentions in the international impasse over the nation's nuclear program. The reactor is running short of fuel, according to Iran, and so the administration proposed that 80 percent of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile be sent to Russia for conversion into reactor fuel. France would then fashion the material into metal plates, composed of a uranium-aluminum alloy, used by this reactor.
U.S. officials argue that if Iran fails to follow through on a tentative agreement on this deal, then it will help strength the case for sanctions. But the negotiations already have highlighted splits between the United States and two of the key players -- Russia and China -- in the effort to restrain Iran's nuclear ambitions.
During a visit to Moscow last week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was rebuffed by Russian officials when she tried to discuss the need for tougher sanctions if negotiations with Iran do not progress quickly. "All efforts should be focused on supporting the negotiating process," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, with Clinton at his side. "Threats, sanctions and threats of pressure in the current situation, we are convinced, would be counterproductive."
Meanwhile, China signaled impatience with talk of new sanctions. On Thursday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met in Beijing with Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and declared that his government would seek "close coordination in international affairs" with Iran. "The Sino-Iranian relationship has witnessed rapid development, as the two countries' leaders have had frequent exchanges, and cooperation in trade and energy has widened and deepened," Wen said, according to the official New China News Agency.
Three other key players -- France, Germany and Britain -- are more willing to press for sanctions if progress is not apparent by the end of the year. A secret French Foreign Ministry strategy paper, published this month by the French weekly Bakchich Hebdo and translated by the Web site ArmsControlWonk.com, depicted France as the most eager for substantial sanctions.
There were "minor differences about the envisioned sanctions" with Germany and Britain, the paper said.
"The United States, which made an unprecedented overture to Iran in the spring, apparently does not intend to review this strategy until the end of the year. Its strategy is a bit more wait-and-see than ours." Russia and China, it added, "very clearly emphasize dialogue and do not wish to raise the idea of further sanctions."
French officials declined to comment on the document.
In a sign of American seriousness, the U.S. delegation for the talks in Vienna will be headed by Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel B. Poneman and include White House and State Department officials. The make-up of the Iranian delegation is unclear, but a Reuters report from Vienna quoted an Iranian official as saying Iran was sending relatively low-level officials rather than the head of its nuclear energy program.
Since officials announced a tentative agreement on the deal in Geneva on Oct. 1, Iran has sent a series of contradictory signals. Different Iranian officials have suggested at various times that there was no agreement; that Iran wanted to produce the fuel itself; that Iran wanted to purchase the fuel rather than convert its enriched uranium stock; and that Iran wanted to convert even more uranium. U.S. officials said they have no idea what Iran will propose in Vienna but they expect hard bargaining over timetables, payments and other issues.
The talks, to be held under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will last at least two days.
The French document suggested that Paris is concerned the U.S. gambit could lead to endless haggling. "We have given the United States our agreement for this operation, with conditions," it said. "In particular, it seems essential that . . . the entire 1,200 kg [2,640 pounds] of uranium leave Iran on a short deadline (Iran should be asked for an answer in principle by the end of October; the uranium should exit before the end of the year)."
The administration views the deal -- which would convert the uranium into fuel for a research reactor used for medical purposes -- as a test of Iranian intentions in the international impasse over the nation's nuclear program. The reactor is running short of fuel, according to Iran, and so the administration proposed that 80 percent of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile be sent to Russia for conversion into reactor fuel. France would then fashion the material into metal plates, composed of a uranium-aluminum alloy, used by this reactor.
U.S. officials argue that if Iran fails to follow through on a tentative agreement on this deal, then it will help strength the case for sanctions. But the negotiations already have highlighted splits between the United States and two of the key players -- Russia and China -- in the effort to restrain Iran's nuclear ambitions.
During a visit to Moscow last week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was rebuffed by Russian officials when she tried to discuss the need for tougher sanctions if negotiations with Iran do not progress quickly. "All efforts should be focused on supporting the negotiating process," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, with Clinton at his side. "Threats, sanctions and threats of pressure in the current situation, we are convinced, would be counterproductive."
Meanwhile, China signaled impatience with talk of new sanctions. On Thursday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met in Beijing with Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and declared that his government would seek "close coordination in international affairs" with Iran. "The Sino-Iranian relationship has witnessed rapid development, as the two countries' leaders have had frequent exchanges, and cooperation in trade and energy has widened and deepened," Wen said, according to the official New China News Agency.
Three other key players -- France, Germany and Britain -- are more willing to press for sanctions if progress is not apparent by the end of the year. A secret French Foreign Ministry strategy paper, published this month by the French weekly Bakchich Hebdo and translated by the Web site ArmsControlWonk.com, depicted France as the most eager for substantial sanctions.
There were "minor differences about the envisioned sanctions" with Germany and Britain, the paper said.
"The United States, which made an unprecedented overture to Iran in the spring, apparently does not intend to review this strategy until the end of the year. Its strategy is a bit more wait-and-see than ours." Russia and China, it added, "very clearly emphasize dialogue and do not wish to raise the idea of further sanctions."
French officials declined to comment on the document.
In a sign of American seriousness, the U.S. delegation for the talks in Vienna will be headed by Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel B. Poneman and include White House and State Department officials. The make-up of the Iranian delegation is unclear, but a Reuters report from Vienna quoted an Iranian official as saying Iran was sending relatively low-level officials rather than the head of its nuclear energy program.
Since officials announced a tentative agreement on the deal in Geneva on Oct. 1, Iran has sent a series of contradictory signals. Different Iranian officials have suggested at various times that there was no agreement; that Iran wanted to produce the fuel itself; that Iran wanted to purchase the fuel rather than convert its enriched uranium stock; and that Iran wanted to convert even more uranium. U.S. officials said they have no idea what Iran will propose in Vienna but they expect hard bargaining over timetables, payments and other issues.
The talks, to be held under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will last at least two days.
The French document suggested that Paris is concerned the U.S. gambit could lead to endless haggling. "We have given the United States our agreement for this operation, with conditions," it said. "In particular, it seems essential that . . . the entire 1,200 kg [2,640 pounds] of uranium leave Iran on a short deadline (Iran should be asked for an answer in principle by the end of October; the uranium should exit before the end of the year)."
vrijdag 2 oktober 2009
NATO-style rapid-reaction force
ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Thousands of troops from Russia and four other ex-Soviet nations are staging exercises as part of a newly formed NATO-style rapid-reaction force.
It's the first such drills for the Collective Security Treaty Organization's new miltary unit.
Kazakh defense officials say more than 7,000 troops gathered Friday in southern Kazakhstan for two weeks of exercises.
Russia and four other members — Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — earlier this year agreed to set up the unit.
Moscow hopes it will bolster the power of the seven-nation CSTO, seen largely as a talking shop established by Russia to counterbalance NATO.
Officials say the exercise will, among other things, train the force in responding to insurgencies in alliance member countries.
It's the first such drills for the Collective Security Treaty Organization's new miltary unit.
Kazakh defense officials say more than 7,000 troops gathered Friday in southern Kazakhstan for two weeks of exercises.
Russia and four other members — Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — earlier this year agreed to set up the unit.
Moscow hopes it will bolster the power of the seven-nation CSTO, seen largely as a talking shop established by Russia to counterbalance NATO.
Officials say the exercise will, among other things, train the force in responding to insurgencies in alliance member countries.
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