• Tanya Lokshina (left), 38, is Human Rights Watch’s senior researcher for Russia. Nadira Isaeva (right) was chief editor of a leading independent newspaper "Chernovik" in Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim region of southern Russia.
    © 2011 Platon for Human Rights Watch
    Russia: Expert Testimony on the Situation for Human Rights Defenders
    Expert Presentation by Tanya Lokshina, Russia Researcher for Human Rights Watch before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
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  • Human Rights in Russia
    In 2011 Russian human rights defenders were harassed and its civil society worked in a hostile climate. No one has been held responsible for abuses, including the murders of activists in the North Caucasus. Russia’s cooperation with international institutions in the field of human rights appeared perfunctory, and several positive developments pertaining to freedom of expression were counterbalanced by proposed detrimental laws in other areas. The authorities refused to register new political parties and used government resources to support pro-Putin candidates in the elections. The peaceful demonstrations that followed the December 2011 parliamentary vote forced authorities to acknowledge the public’s discontent with the Putin-era authoritarianism and to promise reforms.

Reports

Russia

  • Russia: Government Shuts HIV-Prevention Group’s Website
    Feb 8, 2012
    The Russian government’s anti-drugs agency has ordered the blocking of the website of a public health organization, the Andrey Rylkov Foundation, for discussing the addiction medicine methadone, human rights groups said today. The move is an assault on freedom of expression in the midst of pro-democracy protests, the groups said.
  • Russia: Stop Draconian Homophobic Bill
    Feb 8, 2012
    The St. Petersburg legislative assembly should halt consideration of a discriminatory bill that would deny freedom of expression to the local lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
  • UN: Russia, China Vetoes Betray Syrian People
    Feb 4, 2012
    Vetoes by Russia and China of the UN Security Council resolution on Syria are a betrayal of the Syrian people, Human Rights Watch said today. A resolution urging the Syrian government to end all human rights violations and cooperate with the UN commission of inquiry and the Arab League observer mission was approved by 13 council members, including India, South Africa, and Pakistan, before being vetoed.
  • Russia: Expert Testimony on the Situation for Human Rights Defenders
    Jan 26, 2012
    Expert Presentation by Tanya Lokshina, Russia Researcher for Human Rights Watch before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
  • Russia Repeats Western Mistakes in Arab Spring
    Jan 23, 2012
    Russia is repeating the mistakes of Western governments during the Arab Spring by continuing to support a longstanding authoritarian ally whose people have clearly expressed the desire for democratic change, Human Rights Watch said in releasing its annual global survey at a Moscow news conference today.
  • The Soviet Fall and the Arab Spring
    Jan 10, 2012
    Twenty years ago, in July 1991, I was poised to start a job researching human rights violations in the Soviet Union. A month later, the failed coup to unseat Communist Party leader Mikhail Gorbachev precipitated rapid political changes that would lead to the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 25. Watching these events, my family told me I would no longer have a job. Like many others, they assumed that the end of communism would usher in a new era of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights in the Soviet Union’s successor states. I started my new job as planned and it only took five minutes to see that those assumptions were wrong.
  • Russia: Protests Go on Peacefully
    Dec 24, 2011
    Russian authorities should respect the right to freedom of assembly and promptly release everyone arrested at peaceful protests on December 5, 2011, who did not engage in acts of violence.
  • Belarus on My Mind, and Maybe Putin’s as Well
    Dec 20, 2011
    “Documents, please?” – a man in a police uniform said, approaching me. As I handed him my passport, he added sarcastically: “Make sure you take all valuables out: dollars..pounds…whatever else you got there”.
  • Russia: Investigate Murder of Dagestan Publisher
    Dec 16, 2011
    The Russian authorities’ investigation into the murder of a leading independent publisher in Dagestan should be prompt and thorough and should bring those responsible to justice.
  • Testimony of Tom Malinowski before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on European Affairs
    Dec 15, 2011
    Over the last several days, Russians have come out in numbers not seen in years to express frustrations long simmering beneath the surface – about abuse of power, corruption, and their political leaders’ complete lack of accountability and infantilizing of the public. We do not know where this popular awakening will lead. But it is safe to say that Russia is not going back to what it was before it began. We’ve heard a lot about “resets” with respect to Russia in the last three years. The Russian people have now brought about the biggest reset of them all.
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