Rights in Russia (Rights in Russia)

Our guest on the podcast this week is the Russian civil society activist, now living in Talinn, Estonia, Evgenia Chirikova. Evgenia Chirikova is especially well known for her campaign to save the Khimki Forest and she was leader of Ecological Defence (Ecoborona) in Moscow region. She was also a member of the organizing committee for Strategy 31 and a member of the Coordinating Council of the Russian Opposition. You can learn more about her work today at: activatica.org.

The topics we discuss on the podcast include: the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, public opinion in Estonia, what the West is doing, what needs to be done to help, why things have come to this, the role of Vladimir Putin, prospects for the future.

Our questions to Evgenia:

1) What does the public in Estonia think about the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

2) Boris Nemtsov was a great friend of Ukraine and was killed shortly after the annexation of Crimea. Do you think he imagined that would be such a full-scale invasion could occur?

3) How do you think Russian civic activists are doing? Many activists are leaving, laws are becoming more repressive. People are being detained and jailed. How do you assess the situation for Russian civil society?

4) Why do you think Putin decided to take this extraordinary step of invading a neighbouring country?

5) How is the West reacting? Are the EU and the U.S. doing enough? What is the impact of economic sanctions?

6) What should the general public in the West do?

7) How will Putin's regime change as a result of this war? Is there a possibility that the regime will not survive?

8) What do you think will happen in the coming days and weeks in Ukraine and Russia?

9) How do you see the future of human rights activism in Russia, what awaits the country and the world?

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website, SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: “It pains me very much that right now some kind of universal evil is coming from Russia, from my homeland.” Russian civil society activist Evgenia Chirikova, who moved to Estonia several years ago, found an hour to talk with Simon Cosgrove and me. Zhenya says from Tallinn, where she now lives: “We need to help refugees, we need to do a lot of organisational work.” Zhenya told us that when asked "Who is to blame for this" her answer is that we tried to stop Putin with all our might. But we had a very weak civil society that had been decimated during the preceding decades of totalitarianism. "People of my generation - we were actually the first to try to organize movements, to resist unfair elections. But we also saw the cooperation of Western politicians with Putin, a kind of Schröderization of the West. They were feeding Putin." In our conversation Zhenya Chirikova recalled speeches she made in the European Parliament and in the British Parliament where she asked the Western countries not to buy oil and gas from Putin, not to support this corrupted regime. "People laughed at me, said it was real politik. It turns out that we raised this monster together with the West, and now we all have to clean it up together.

My guest today is the author Maxim Osipov.  Following in the great Russian tradition of Chekhov and Bulgakov, he has pursued a career in medicine in parallel with that of a writer.  For his works of fiction – for the most part short stories that are sharp and witty commentaries on modern-day life in the Russian provinces – Maxim Osipov has won a number of literary prizes, and his plays have been staged as well as broadcast on the radio in Russia. Osipov’s works have been translated into 18 languages. His books published in English include the collections of short stories Rock, Paper, Scissors and Other Stories and Kilometer 101 (see my review in Rights in Russia from earlier this year).

Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Maxim Osipov signed several letters condemning Putin’s military operation.. He left Russia on 4 March 2023 and now lives in the Netherlands where he has launched a new quarterly literary journal,  The Fifth Wave. 

This recording was made on 11 August 2023.

My questions:

• You left Russia almost immediately after the Russian army invaded Ukraine. How did you come to take such a decision? How difficult was it for you?
• Before you left Russia you successfully combined the professions of cardiologist in Tarusa with that of a writer of short stories and other works of literature. How did these two roles complement one another?
• Do the current policies of Putin’s Russia allow you to be a writer? What is the duty or role of a Russian writer in today’s situation?
• What’s your reaction when accusations of imperialism and ‘colonial thinking’ are made against some of the classics of Russian literature? To what extent are they justified? Do you see attempts outside Russia to cancel Russian culture, as is claimed by Russian propaganda?
• In justifying the invasion of Ukraine, Putin set out his interpretation of history, claiming that Ukraine belongs to the ‘Russian world.’ To what extent does such use of history as justification have a place in the contemporary world?
• You have recently begun publication of a new journal. Tell us about it and your aims and aspirations for it.
• You have named your magazine The Fifth Wave. You wrote earlier that this wave of emigration is most similar to the first wave after 1917. What did you have in mind?
• Do you continue to write fiction in emigration? You no longer practice as a doctor, so where do you get your material from?
• How do you find life in emigration?
• Are there circumstances under which you would return to Russia?

My guests today are two Parisians, Aleksandra Ilkhovskaya and Svetlana Dokudovskaya: Aleksandra [known to everyone as “Sanya]” has lived in Paris since she was six years old – her mother emigrated from Russia in 1991. She is married with two daughters. She is a primary school teacher with 10 years’ experience. Svetlana has lived with her French husband and their 13-year-old daughter in Paris for the past 17 years. She works as a cell biologist at the Gustave Roussy Institute, Europe’s largest cancer research centre. Both their lives changed after February 24th 2022.

This recording was made on 22 September 2023.

My questions include:

1. What were your thoughts and feelings when you woke up last February 24th?
2. Why did you decide you needed to take action? And how?
3. When did you first arrive at the train station and what did you find there?
4. You obviously helped the people there a great deal, but what did you get out of the experience, what did you learn or discover about yourselves?
5. Sveta, with Sanya’s help, you published a book called “Operation Montparnasse”. It contains the stories of refugees and also the stories of your fellow Russian volunteers/translators. What would you say is the particular importance of the book for you?  And for your readers?

Our latest guest is the Ukrainian writer Andrei Kurkov. Andrei Kurkov became widely known to readers around the world in 2001 when his novel Smert’ postoronnego [Смерть Постороннего] was published in English translation as Death and the Penguin. Other novels followed and, in their wake, worldwide recognition and success at prominent international literary awards. His latest novel, Grey Bees, tells the story of an elderly beekeeper in the occupied territory of Donbas. The novel touches on the war in Donbas and on the violation of Crimean Tatar rights in Russian annexed Crimea. In 2015 his Ukraine Diaries was published in English and, recently, his Diary of an Invasion.  

This recording took place on 14 April 2023. 

Diary of an Invasion is published by Mountain Leopard  Press, ISBN: 9781914495847, pp 304, London, 2022. It is a collection of Andrei Kurkov’s writings and broadcasts from Ukraine in the lead up to and during the war.

You can also listen to the podcast on our website, SoundCloud, Podcasts.com, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 

My questions include:

1.      You started your Diary of an Invasion just before New Year at the very end of 2021. Do you always keep a diary?

2.      What emotions did you feel when you learnt what had happened on February 24th?

3.      How do you see the role of the writer during the war?

4.      Before the invasion, your remarks in the Diary about Ukraine and your Ukrainian compatriots are quite multifaceted. But after you tend to write about them as if they were figures from Ukrainian historical myths (‘bylinas’) – how brave, freedom-loving they are, and how different they are from the Russians. It is as if those human traits that make your novels so memorable and touching aren’t relevant here. What explains that change?

5.      You write about the traditions of the Ukrainian people and the creation of myths in times of crisis. What is the role of traditions and myths in the identity of a people?

6.      Your native language, in which you became a famous writer, is Russian. Have you ever had any problems in your relations with Ukrainian writers or the public because of it?

7.      What is your attitude to the Russian language in Ukraine now?

8.      How do Russians around the world react to your advocacy for Ukraine – do you get hate mail from Russians?

9.      Do you see the possibility for Russian-speaking Ukrainians to write in Russian again in the future?

10.  You write in your Diary that you have an unfinished novel… will you be able to finish it or is it doomed to remain in the unfinished after the Russian invasion?

11.  Do you believe in the concept of ‘good Russians’? Who is a ‘good Russian’ for you?

12.  Has Russian culture played a major role in your own development as a writer?

13.  Are there any commonalities between Russian and Ukrainian culture and traditions? (You write in the Diary about the feat of Russian PR in promoting Russian culture around the world, as if Russian culture would not be so highly regarded without it.)

14.  How do you see the future of Ukraine? And of Russia? 

Our guest on the podcast this week is Nikolai Kavkazsky. Nikolai Yurievich Kavkazsy is a Russian civil society activist, human rights defender and opposition politician. He is one of the leading Yabloko activists in Moscow. Nikolai Kavkazsky was a defendant in the Bolotnoe case. Politically, he defines himself as a left-wing social democrat, an internationalist, a supporter of LGBT rights and of feminism. He is an advocate of juvenile justice and a humane drug policy.

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website, SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 

The recording was made on 18 June 2022.

The questions we ask Nikolai Kavkazsky include:

·         Which word best describes you – civil society activist, human rights activist or politician?

·         You studied law at the Institute of World Economy and Informatization. At what point did you realize you wanted to be a civil society activist and a politician?

·         You became a member of the Yabloko party in 2007 and are one of the party’s leading activists in Moscow. Why did you choose Yabloko as your party?

·         Why are political parties weak in Russia?

·         You took part in the Bolotnaya Square protest in 2012, after which you were charged with ‘participation in mass riots’ (under Article 212(2) of the Russian Criminal Code) and held on remand for almost a year and a half. Amnesty International recognized you as a prisoner of conscience, along with several other individuals involved in the Bolotnaya case. In December 2013, you were amnestied and the criminal case was dropped. How did all this happen?

·         What were the conditions in pre-trial detention centre?

·         You were an associate of the late Andrei Babushkin, who headed the Committee for Civil Rights. What is the work of this organization? And what kind of person was Andrei Babushkin?

·         You support LGBT rights in Russia. Why is the country so intolerant of LGBT people?

·         On 24 February 2022 you were detained for taking part in an anti-war protest. The next day you were jaled for six days. What is the situation regarding anti-war protests in Russia?

·         How do you see the future of the country and, in particular, the future of human rights?

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: “Everything, absolutely everything, must be politicized. Including the question of installing benches at the entrance to an apartment building and protesting against plans to build in housing courtyards.” That’s what Simon Cosgrove and I were told by Nikolai Kavkazsky in a conversation we had with him last week. I’ve known Nikolai since the infamous Bolotnaya trial in Moscow. He is first and foremost a politician, a political activist. We also remember his active participation in human rights organizations, including Andrei Babushkin’s Committee for Civil Rights. It was an interesting conversation in which Nikolay Kavkazsky bravely states that he wants to change politics as they now are in Russia; he wants to change society so that it is more just, more free, and integrates all oppressed social groups.

Our guest on the podcast this week is Andrei Kalikh, a human rights researcher, journalist, and activist with a special interest in the issue of corruption. In the past, Andrei worked as programme director at the Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights and he has been a board member of Perm Memorial Society. Until recently, Andrei lived in St. Petersburg. He recently left Russia and is currently in Israel.

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website, SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 

The questions we ask Andrei are:

1) When the war began on February 24, 2022, did it come as a surprise to civil society in Russia?

2) Why did the war begin on February 24, 2022?

3) There were many protests in Russia at the start of the war. You were involved in some of these protests. What was the atmosphere at the protests? How did the authorities respond?

4) Nowadays there are fewer protests. Why?

5) At the beginning of the conflict there were estimates that about 250,000 people had left Russia because of the war. Who were these people and why did they leave?

6) What help is available to those who have left Russia?

8) To what extent is there now an "anti-Russian" atmosphere in public opinion outside Russia because of the war?

9) Many people say one of the reasons the Russian military has not been successful in Ukraine is because of corruption. You worked on anti-corruption projects in Russia for many years. How strong is the corruption in Russia?

10) What do you think will happen in the next few weeks and months?

Sergey Nikitin writes on Facebook:

Russian human rights activist Andrei Kalikh took part in protests against the war unleashed by the Kremlin. It was not long after the first bombings and shelling of Ukraine: Andrei could not remain indifferent and on February 27 he stood in the centre of St. Petersburg holding a placard to express his opinion in the most peaceful way possible.

The police were brutal; no one was spared. They grabbed him, twisted his arm, threw him in a van and took him away.

“One of the reasons for the outbreak of this war was the lack of resistance from civil society, the opposition movement and the protest movement. We have all lost; we were weak. I feel personally responsible for this,” says Andrei Kalikh. A former programme director at the Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights, a board member of the Perm Memorial Society, a human rights and civil society activist and journalist, Andrei Kalikh was our guest on our latest podcast as part of the Rights in Russia project. We talked about many things, including protest and civic activism, not only in big cities, but also far from them. Andrei told us about the protest in the village of Siversky in Leningrad region, not far from where he lived until recently. And in this quiet dacha settlement, known to us from Nabokov's memoirs, as it turns out, there are people who care too. People who are ready to express their position publicly and find a variety of ways to do so. Andrei Kalikh, like many other human rights activists, was forced to leave Russia. He told us that for him living in Russia had become impossible and shameful. "Everything that had been achieved has been wiped out by this war,” he told us.

Our guest today is Zoia Svetova, renowned journalist and human rights activist. She continues to live and work in Moscow.  She is the author of several books, including Priznat’ nevinovnogo vinovnym [To Find the Innocent Guilty]. Her voice is perhaps one of the few authoritative oppositionist voices still heard in Russia today.  

This podcast was recorded on 26 March 2024.

My questions include:

• When it became known that Russian troops had invaded Ukraine in 2022, could you ever have imagined such a thing happening?
• You decided to stay in Russia. Did you discuss with your family, your four adult children, whether to leave or stay in Russia?
• Can I ask you to tell us a little about your family? After all, you are part of Russia’s hereditary dissident aristocracy, if I may put it like that. Tell us about your parents, what you most remember about them, about their lives? 
• Your husband was also involved in the dissident movement.  How did you meet? And how did you bring up your children, what were the main moral values you tried to pass on to them?
• When Putin became president in 2000, did you have any hopes?
• Was there a key episode when it became clear for you which direction his regime was heading?
• The title of this podcast, “Then and Now,” is associated with the fateful date of 24 February 2022. But there has since been another terrible date that will be a significant event in the perception of the world and of Russian public opinion  – 16 February this year. What was your first reaction when you learned of Aleksei Navalny’s death in the Polar Wolf penal colony.
• What did Navalny mean for Russia, what did he symbolise? And what did his death in prison mean for the future of Russia?
• You were at Aleksei’s funeral in Moscow. Could you share the mood that prevailed there, what you observed –  tell us about your impressions.
• Should other political prisoners in Russia now fear for their lives?
• Just recently, a presidential election was conducted in Russia. If I’m not mistaken, you were abroad at that time. Did you take part in the “Noon against Putin” protest? Did the protests bring any benefits? And is there any difference between such protests in Russia and abroad?
• Your sons Tikhon and Filip are engaged in interesting work abroad. Does the fact that Tikhon is on the register of foreign agents and is editor-in-chief of the Dozhd TV company, which has been declared an undesirable organization in Russia, affect your life in Moscow in any way?
• After the attack on Leonid Volkov, a leading member of Navalny’s team, in Vilnius, do you fear for your own children and other Russian oppositionists living outside Russia? 
• What would have to happen in Russia for you to change your mind and leave the country?
• What needs to happen in Russia for your children and grandchildren to return home? 
• What are your thoughts about the recent terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall in Moscow?  Do you think 22 March 2024 will be another milestone in the history of the Putin regime?

Our guest on the podcast this week is Lev Aleksandrovich Ponomarev (pictured, left, with the late Andrei Babushkin). Lev Ponomarev is a human rights activist and head of the For Human Rights movement and a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group. He also participated in the creation of the Memorial Human Rights Center. As a legal entity, the For Human Rights Movement was liquidated by a November 2019 decision of the Russian Supreme Court. Lev Ponomarev became one of the first private individuals to be included in the registry of "media foreign agents" when the Russian Ministry of Justice included him in the corresponding list on December 28, 2020.

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website, SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 

The questions we ask Lev Ponomarev include:

1 Andrei Babushkin, the well-known human rights defender, died recently - on the night of May 14. You knew him well for many years. What kind of person was he?

2 When did you leave Russia and what made you take this difficult decision?

3 What is the situation like for human rights defenders who still live and work in Russia today?

4 You were one of the organizers of the peace movement in Russia. How strong is this movement?

5 How difficult is it to continue your work outside of Russia?

6 How long can Russian propaganda be effective in the face of Russia's enormous human and material losses during the war?

7 What effect do sanctions have inside Russia?

8 Many people now use the word "fascism" to describe Putin's regime in Russia. Would you use this term?

9 You have advocated democratic reforms in Russia since at least the late 1980s. Why have these reforms - at least to date - failed so badly?

10 How do you see future developments?

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: " Lev Ponomarev said, 'The atmosphere in the country now is like, well, they’re not shooting us yet, but... What is there to say? I’ve been squeezed out, I have been forced to go abroad. The attacks were almost daily. But I wasn't beaten up once, thank God. I have to thank those guys who attacked me. They showed humanism, so to speak. Well, they poured something smelly over me, and I had to throw away my jacket and trousers. The cops stopped me in the metro, told me I was on the federal wanted list, and then they drove me around town and let me go. In general, I realized I had to leave.' In our latest podcast on Rights in Russia, Simon and I talked with Lev Ponomarev. We remembered Andrei Babushkin, who has died recently, discussed the human rights situation in Russia and considered possible scenarios for the future.

My guest today is Anastasia Burakova, a human rights lawyer and democratic activist from Russia. 

We are still in shock at the news of the murder of Aleksei Navalny in a high-security penal colony in the settlement of Kharp. 

Aleksei Navalny’s political star rose as a leader of the opposition to the Putin regime in 2011.  That year, 2011, played a significant part in the  political coming of age of  today’s guest - Anastasia Burakova, a Russian human rights lawyer and activist for democratic change in Russia - and influenced the trajectory of her professional life.

However, ten years later, in November 2021, Anastasia was forced to leave Russia. She moved to Georgia after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, where she founded the Ark Project (‘Kovcheg’). Initially, set up to offer help to exiled Russians because of their opposition to the war, over time, Ark’s activities have broadened.

This podcast was recorded on 22 February 2024.

My questions include:

1. I am haunted by two thoughts that never leave me now – the death in prison of Aleksei Navalny and the second year of war inUkraine. What thoughts have occupied you most this past week?
2. In an interview almost one year ago, you talked about a ‘white rose’ of resistance in Russia. Are there grounds for optimism in Russia today?
3. The journalist Elena Kostyuchenko wrote in her book about Russia: “Why did I ever think my life would be different?” Do you have an answer for her?
4. Tell us a little about your childhood. Were there any key moments in your biography that led you to your choice of profession and the path you followed?
5. You have said that the year 2011 played a big role in your own development. What does 2011 in Russia mean to you? What are your most vivid impressions of that year?
6. You left Russia at the end of 2021, just 10 years later. What happened in the intervening years in the field of civic activism?
7. To what extent did human rights and civic activism face new and more difficult challenges in the period leading up to the invasion of Ukraine? What defined the relationship of the authorities to civil society?
8. Soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, you founded the Ark Project. What was the idea behind the project and who are the beneficiaries?
9. Is there any real hope for the Russian opposition in exile? What can it really do? 
10. What do the countries that have welcomed Russian exiles have to gain from their presence? 
11. Aleksei Navalny from prison urged the Russian people to act. He proposed that people should go to the polling stations on the last day of the election, 17 March, at 12.00 noon local time, and stand in line outside the polling station in protest. Do you think there’s a chance that many will do this following his assassination in prison by the Russian authorities?
12. What do you think the future holds for you? And what are your thoughts about the future of Russia?

Welcome to the second episode of our new Russian-language podcast Then & Now with me, Teresa Cherfas.  

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 everything, everywhere, suddenly looked different. That day was a watershed. Guests on the Then & Now podcast are people for whom February 24 became a defining moment, dividing their lives into before and after the war.

Today’s guest is Svetlana Alekseevna Gannushkina: human rights activist, social activist and chair of the Committee for Civic Assistance – the first human rights organisation in Russia helping refugees and displaced persons. In 1991, she was one of the founding members of the Memorial Centre for Human Rights and in 2010  – together with Memorial – she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. On December 23, 2022, her name was added to the register of ‘foreign agents.’  Her organisation, the Committee for Civic Assistance, was registered as a 'foreign agent' in April 2015.  

The recording took place on 16 February 2023

My questions include:

• What did you recall of your feelings and thoughts on 24 February 2022?
• What were the key events that led you to become a human rights activist?
• Why did you decide to focus your work on refugees? 
• How does being on the register of 'foreign agents' affect you? And the work of your organisation?
• You often talk about feelings of shame and responsibility for your country. How do you understand Russia’s lack of sympathy for Ukrainians?
• What is left of civil society in Russia today after the closures of Memorial, the Moscow Helsinki Group and the Sakharov Centre?
• How do you see the future of Russia?

Our guest on the podcast this week is the lawyer Kirill Koroteev, head of international legal practice of Agora International Human Rights Group. Previously, Kirill worked as legal director at Memorial Human Rights Centre, where he specialized in handling cases before the European Court of Human Rights. Kirill graduated from the Higher School of Economics in Moscow and received his master's degree from the University of Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne, where he also taught public law.

The themes we discuss in the podcast include: the work of a Russian lawyer in international courts; Russia's exclusion from the Council of Europe and its consequences; Russia's war against Ukraine; the current brain drain from Russia; and the future of human rights in Russia.

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website, SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 

The questions we ask Kirill Koroteev include:

1) As head of international legal practice at the Agora Human Rights Group you extensive experience in international courts and jurisdictions in various countries. How would you compare Russian lawyers today - especially human rights lawyers - with lawyers from other European countries?

2) Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe on March 16, 2022. This is only the second case of the exclusion of a state from the Council of Europe. Was there an alternative to this turn of events?

3) What will be the consequences of Russia's withdrawal for participants in Court proceedings – including those whose cases have already been decided, but not yet executed; those who have applied to the Court but whose cases are still in progress; and those who may still want to bring a case to the Court?

4) Russian lawyer and human rights activist Karinna Moskalenko has said that the inability of Russians to apply to the European Court would be ‘a punishment for ordinary people, not for the government.’ Do you agree with this point of view?

5) What is the future of the interstate case filed by the Ukrainian government on 28 February, as a result of which on 1 March the Court issued interim measures (under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court) requiring Russia to ‘refrain from military attacks on civilians and civilian objects, including homes, ambulances and other specially protected civilian objects such as schools and hospitals, and immediately ensure the safety of medical facilities, personnel and ambulances on the territory attacked or besieged by Russian forces.’

6) What is the legality of showing public videos of conversations and press conferences with prisoners of war. Is this a violation of the Geneva Conventions? Valentina Melnikova, for examples, has argued that such videos can save the lives of Russian POWs (see Valentina Melnikova’s interview with Gordeeva in the program "Tell Gordeeva").

7) Do you see any scenario in which Russia could rejoin the Council of Europe?

8) Could the exclusion of Russia could have a positive impact on the Court, given that Russia has one of the worst records so far as implementing the Court’s decisions is concerned?

9) According to existing estimates, as many as 250,000 people have left Russia because of the invasion of Ukraine. A great many of them are young professionals, including lawyers. Do you think this is a temporary phenomenon? Will people return to Russia in the near future? Or is this a development that will last for many years?

10) How do you see the future of human rights in the Russian Federation?

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: “For this reason, a lot of class specialists in the legal practice of the ECtHR appeared in Rusia,” Kirill Koroteev told us, referring to the fact that the flawed judicial system in Russia led to a large increase in applications to Strasbourg. However, on 16 March 2022 Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe. This is the first case of exclusion of a State from the Council of Europe: only Greece left the Council in 1969, and then on its own initiative.

Simon Cosgrove and I asked Kirill if there had been any alternative to this course of events. His opinion is that there was an alternative: an even earlier exclusion of Russia from the Council of Europe. After all, the main purpose of this oldest European organization is cooperation among member states, not armed conflicts among them.

According to Kirill in 2019, the Council of Europe for the sake of 60 million euros actually did everything to permit the Russian authorities to remain members. If the Council had suspended Russia’s membership in 2019, as the organization’s own documents demanded, perhaps membership would have ended sooner.

Kirill, like many Russians, has left a country where the rule of law has long been dormant.

“All we’ve seen in the last 10-12 years,” he says, “is deterioration. What hope for the future is there?”

Our guest on the podcast this week is Varvara Pakhomenko. Varvara Pakhomenko has been a human rights activist for a very long time. Back in her native Tomsk she was actively involved in human rights activities. Having moved to Moscow, Varvara began working with many human rights activists in the capital, but the geography of her travels remained very wide. Since 2006, Varvara Pakhomenko has worked in conflict zones in the North and South Caucasus: in 2006-2009 at the human rights organization Demos, in 2009-2011 at the Dutch organization Russian Justice Initiative, and since 2011 she has worked as a programme analyst for Europe and Central Asia at the International Crisis Group. When the Russian authorities effectively closed the ICG’s Moscow office, Varvara left to work in Ukraine. There she worked first for the UN Development Programme and after that for Geneva Call. A move to Canada seemed to put some distance between her and Europe, but now Varvara Pakhomenko is back again on the old continent.

The recording took place on 24 June 2022.

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website, SoundCloud, Podcasts.com, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 

You can also listen to the podcast in full here (see also below):

The questions we ask Varvara Pakhomenko include:

·         How did human rights activism come into your life?

·         One of Tomsk’s leading human rights activists was Boris Maksovich Kreindel. He was involved in many projects, including defending the rights of Roma in Tomsk region. How did it happen that he had to leave his native land?

·         Tell us about your work in the conflict zones in the Caucasus – where did you work? To what extent was it dangerous?

·         Which Moscow human rights activists and which organizations have you worked with in Russia?

·         When and why did you decide to move to Ukraine?

·         How does the human rights movement in Ukraine differ from that in Russia?

·         At least since 2012 the Russian authorities have pursued policies of increasing restrictions on human rights work in the country, attacks on freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and a general moved towards isolationism. Do you think they have been preparing for the war against Ukraine for a long time?

·         What has been your role at the UNDP and Geneva Call?

·         How has the Ukrainian army changed since 2014. How do you assess the Ukrainian military’s compliance with international humanitarian law and with the rules and customs of warfare?

·         How do you see the future of human rights in Russia and the future of human rights organizations?

Welcome to the twenty-third edition of our Russian-language podcast Then & Now with me, Teresa Cherfas. My guest today is the Russian artist Slava Ptrk.

The Crypt Gallery in central London recently hosted a multimedia exhibition called The Brainwashing Machine, about the uses of propaganda.  The exhibition, which first opened in Madrid, showed works by artists from a range of different countries, but the great majority was from Russia. The venue in the basement of the Crypt at St. Pancras Church provided a dark and atmospheric labyrinth, with dark cells where little light penetrated.  In these alcoves and on their rough walls, were displayed intriguing interpretations of the role of propaganda in contemporary life. Among them, were works by Sasha Skochilenko, made while she was still in prison in Russia, Pavel Otdelnov and Nadia Tolokonnikova. One could also read and hear the words of dramatist Zhenya Berkovich and director Svetlana Petriichuk, both still in a Russian prison today. But personally, I was most taken by the works of our guest today: Slava Ptrk

This podcast was recorded on 19 September 2024.

My questions include:

• Tell us about your name, if you would. It’s a pseudonym, but why did you choose to glorify PTRK?
• Tell us about how you came to be a part of The Brainwashing Machine exhibition about propaganda?
• Your works exhibited in the exhibition – did you make them especially for the exhibition ?
• Perhaps your most memorable work in the exhibition is called ‘I am not interested in politics.’ Tell us about it and how it came about.
• You started your professional career as a journalist. Is that why propaganda and its impact are important subjects for you? What were your experiences as a journalist in this regard?
• What served as the impetus for you to become an artist? What were your first steps in this direction.
• What is most for you in expressing yourselMy questions include:
• Tell us about your name, if you would. It’s a pseudonym, I guess,  but why did you choose to glorify PTRK?
• Tell us about how you came to be a part of The Brainwashing Machine exhibition?
• Your works for the exhibition – did you make them especially?
• Perhaps your most memorable work in the exhibition is called ‘I am not interested in politics.’ Tell us about it and how it came about.
• You started your professional career as a journalist. Is that why propaganda and its impact are important subjects for you? What were your experiences as a journalist in this regard?
• What served as the impetus for you to become an artist? What were your first steps as an artist?
• What is most important to you in giving expression to yourself and the surrounding reality in your art? You have said that your chief instrument is irony.
• Another work in The Brainwashing Machine exhibition in London is called ‘Steps’ and next to it is a work titled ‘Ways.’ What do these works represent? How do they relate to propaganda? 
• Looking at your street art, one could guess that Banksy was a strong influence on your work. Is that so,  or did you take inspiration elsewhere?
• Your final work in the London exhibition is called ‘The Sinnerman.’ It is uses a mobile phone screen. How should one understand this work and what, or who, is depicted in it?
• When and why did you decide to leave Russia?
• How does being outside Russia affect your choice of subjects for your current and future work?
• Do you have hopes of returning to Russia?

Our guest on the podcast this week is the historian Nikita Vasilievich Petrov. Nikita Petrov is deputy chair of the board of the Memorial Research and Information Centre (which is based in St. Petersburg). Born in Kiev, Nikita Petrov graduated from the Moscow Institute of Chemical Engineering and went on to study at the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy. His association with the Memorial Society began in 1988. As a historian Nikita Petrov has specialized in the history of the Soviet security services. He is known as the author and compiler of many works describing the structure and functions of the Soviet security services from 1917 to 1991.

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website, SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 

The recording took place on 30 May 2022.

·         When and why did you first become interested in history, particularly the history of Soviet repression and the security services?

·         When did your collaboration with Memorial begin?

·         You wrote a number of works with Arseny Roginsky, who headed Memorial and died in 2017. Can you tell us about how you first met, what it was like to work with Roginsky, and what he was like as a person?

·         As a historian who worked in Russia’s archives for many years, can you tell us how historians’ access to these archives has changed over the years?

·         You have written about the history of the NKVD under Stalin, in particular about Nikolai Yezhov. To what extent can we talk about the personal influence of people like Yagoda or Yezhov on the NKVD, or were they just doing Stalin’s bidding?

·         You also wrote about the role of the NKVD and MGB in Central and Eastern Europe from 1939. To what extent were the repressions against people of Polish nationality similar to the Nazi repressions on the basis of race – an example against people of Jewish origin?

·         Another topic you wrote about is that of Ivan Serov and the post-Stalinist KGB. To what extent did the security services change in the post-Stalin period, first as the KGB and then as the FSB?

·         Is there an explanation for why the security services played such an important role in Soviet and Russian history? For example: in the book From the Red Terror to the Mafia State: Russia’s Secret Services in the Struggle for World Domination the authors [historian Felshtinsky, who is not considered a historian by many, and former KGB Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Popov (Canada)] write about the history of the state security takeover in Russia, presenting developments in terms of a confrontation between the Cheka-KGB and the Communist Party. In fact, did the Chekists confront the Communists or were they basically all the same kind of people?

·         Why are today’s authorities in Russia so interested in the study of history?

·         Are there any lessons in history? Including for the citizens of Russia?

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: Read old newspapers and magazines! That was exactly the advice Nikita Petrov got from his father. He taught him that reading the Soviet press would be interesting later, after many years had passed. So Nikita Petrov, who had studied to be a chemist, became a historian. In our latest podcast Nikit Petrov told Simon Cosgrove and me about his love for collecting old newspapers and magazines, how he stacked them in folders and read and re-read them. That's how chemistry came to lose one scientist from its ranks but history gained a remarkable specialist in the study of the Soviet security agencies. We all know Nikita Vasilievich as the author and compiler of many works describing the structure and functions of Soviet security services from 1917 to 1991. This knowledge is very important to all of us today as people from these very special services continue to occupy seats of power. And these people, having gained access to the levers of power, act even more subtly than the preceding genergation of Chekists. "Logic is turned inside out, black is repainted white, and the crimes of the Soviet regimeare not condemned but justified," Nikita Petrov told us. "Today's attempt to recycle history and use it to educate people in the spirit of patriotism is untenable. Such a policy will only bring up a generation of cynics. However, people who can think for themselves will figure things out, they will see for themselves it is all one big lie."

Welcome to the fifteenth edition of our Russian-language podcast Then & Now with me, Teresa Cherfas. 

My guest today is Anna Karetnikova. Until recently, Anna Karetnikova lived and worked in Moscow.  In 2016, she was appointed lead analyst to the Federal Penitentiary Service – FSIN. Prior to that, she served for eight years as a member of the Public Oversight Commission (POC) in Moscow and worked closely with the human rights organisation “Memorial”.

Anna Karetnikova exemplified that rare combination in Russia of someone who was both a human rights activist and a government-appointed official working for the FSIN. For several years she pulled this off brilliantly. But just over a year ago, she was forced to leave Russia. The events that led to this decision and how she feels about life in exile are among the topics we will be talking about.

This podcast was recorded on 8 February 2024.

ou can also listen to the podcast on SoundCloud, Podcasts.com, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts and YouTube. 

My questions include:

1. Before your appointment to the Federal Penitentiary Service, you worked in the Public Oversight Commission in Moscow. What were the functions of this commission and how did your work there lead to your appointment to the Federal Penitentiary Service?
2. Did you have any interests or occupations from a young age which helped you decide to take up this kind of work?
3. How did it happen that you were invited to join the FSIN? What did  your work there involve?  Is it true there is no such position as lead analyst in any other regional branch of the FSIN?
4. How does the system of corresponding with political prisoners work? Do they really receive letters of support from people they don’t know? Do the authorities still allow this?
5. Unlike many of your colleagues, acquaintances and friends in human rights organizations, you stayed in Russia after the Special Military Operation was launched on February 24th 2022? Was leaving Russia not an issue for you at that time?
6. What changed in the FSIN system that prompted you to decide to leave Russia almost a year later?
7. What was your reaction when you learned about the recruitment of lifers in the penal system to the Wagner private military company? What did it say about the attitude of the authorities both to the war and to society as a whole?
8. What changes did you observe in the FSIN and in the regime to prisons and penal colonies after the start of the war?
9. And in the treatment of prisoners? Were there problems, for example, with supplies? Or other issues? xould they still correspond with relatives and have visits from them?
10. Would you say the numbers of political prisoners has increased since the start of the war?
11. With your experience and knowledge of the penal system in Russia, what can you comment about the treatment of Aleksei Navalny in the penal colony? To what extent does his treatment differ from the treatment of other prisoners? And how?
12. And Vladimir Kara-Murza? Could you comment on his recent transfer to the correctional colony No. 7 Omsk. 
13. You currently live in France. Why France?
14. How do you see your future?  And the future of Russia?

Welcome to the thirteenth edition of our Russian-language podcast Then & Now with me, Teresa Cherfas. 

My guest today is Lev Aleksandrovich Ponomarev. Lev Ponomarev trained and worked as a physicist in the USSR before devoting more time and energy to issues of human rights in the Soviet Union and subsequently in the Russian Federation. He was one of the founders of  « Memorial » in 1988, and soon became one of the foremost figures  in human rights in Russia. In the dying days of perestroika, Lev Ponomarev went into politics and in 1990 co-founded the opposition movement « Democratic Russia ». He was a People’s Deputy at the end of the Soviet era and a deputy of the first convocation of the State Duma in the new Russia after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. In 1997 he founded the not-for-profit « For Human Rights » and in 2007 he set up the « Foundation in Defence of Prisoners’ Rights ». He was a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group from 1996 until its closure last year. In 2019 his organisation « For Human Rights » was shut down by the authorities. On December 28, 2020, Lev Ponomarev’s name was in the first list of individuals designated as ‘media foreign agents’ by the Russian Justice Ministry.

The recording was made on 22 December 2023.

You can also listen to the podcast on our website, or on SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 

My questions include:

• Lev Aleksandrovich, where were you when you learned that Russia had launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine? Do you remember how you felt at that moment?
• If I’m not mistaken, you now live in Paris. Could you tell me how this came about?
• Your NGO « For Human Rights » was closed down in 2019 and a year later you yourself became a “Media – Foreign Agent”. How did you feel when all this was happening and why did the authorities do this?
• You have always been someone who warned about the dangerous developments of the Putin regime. Do you think you had insights that others did not? Does everyone agree with you now?
• What do you think was Boris Yeltsin’s biggest mistake?
• Presidential elections are scheduled for next March – although we already know that they will not be “free and fair”. What do you think civil society should do in the run-up to the election – and during the election itself?
• To what extent do people in emigration perceive things differently from those who stayed in Russia? Is this difference noticeable to you? How do you think it affects relations between those who have left Russia and those who remained?
• It is hard not to be pessimistic about human rights in the near future, not least because Russia’s war against Ukraine is still ongoing.  But in the longer term, are there grounds for optimism?

This week our guest is Anna Sevortian, executive director of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, an NGO based in Berlin. Before joining the Forum, Anna worked as Russia Director at Human Rights Watch and has over 15 years of experience working on civil society and human rights issues. Anna has been a Galina Starovoitova Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, and deputy director of the Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights in Moscow. Anna holds a Mid-Career MPA from Harvard Kennedy School and a degree in journalism from Moscow State University. As Forum executive director, Anna is responsible for the overall management and development of the organisation.

The EU-Russia Civil Society Forum is a network of thematically diverse NGOs from Russia and the European Union, established as a bottom-up, non-partisan civic initiative. The Forum serves as a platform for members to engage in joint activities, articulate common positions, provide support and solidarity, and exert civic influence on policy- and decision-making at the (inter)governmental level. Driven by a vision of ‘the civil society beyond borders’, the Forum brings together organisations and people and therefore contributes to integration between Russia and the EU, based on common values of pluralistic democracy, rule of law, human rights and social justice.

EU-Russia Civil Society Forum was officially launched at a Founding Meeting on 29 March 2011 in Prague, Czech Republic. As of today, the Forum has 183 member and supporter organisations from 19 EU member states, Great Britain and Russia.

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on  SoundCloud,  Spotify  and  iTunes. 

The music from “Stravinsky’s Elegy for Viola Solo” is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. 

This week our guest is Igor Valentinovich Sazhin, an activist with Memorial and a human rights defender from Syktyvkar in the Komi Republic. Among the topics we discuss are how Igor became involved in the activities of civil society and Memorial in particular, his work as the chair person of the Komi Human Rights Commission "Memorial," the impact of the law on "foreign agents," recent events in Belarus and the future of civil society and human rights in Russia.

Sergei Nikitin writes: 

The Podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/rightsinrussia/saymon-i-sergey-s-igorem-sazhinym), Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo...ei/id1495261418). The music is from "Elegy for Solo Viola" by Stravinsky and is performed by Karolina Herrera.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Nadezhda Azhgikhina (pictured left), executive director of the Moscow PEN Centre. Nadezhda Azhgikina previously served two terms as vice-president of the European Federation of Journalists, and before that was a secretary of the Union of Journalists of Russia. Nadezhda Azhgikina’s career as a journalist began at Komsomolskaya pravda, where she worked during the 1980s – the years of perestroika and glasnost – before moving to Ogonek and later to Nezavisimaya gazeta. This podcast is in the Russian language. 

You can also hear these podcasts SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes.

If this podcast does not play immediately on the podcast.com website, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right.

A summary of some of the week's events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. 

This week our podcast is devoted to the journalist Yury Shchekochikhin, who was born on June 9, 1950. He would have turned 70 this year. Our guests are the executive director of the Moscow PEN Centre, Nadezhda Azhgikhina, director of the Media Rights Protection Center Galina Arapova and chair of the Yabloko party Nikolai Rybakov. Our podcast consists of two parts. In the first part we will talk about Yury Shchekochikhin as a journalist in the context of his time - above all, as a journalist during the era of Gorbachev's perestroika. In the second half  we will consider the profession of journalist. What does it mean to be a journalist in today's world, in today's Russia?  

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: The conversation that Simon Cosgrove and I had last Sunday was dedicated to the memory of Yury Shchekochikhin. On 9th June he would have turned 70. Yury Petrovich has not been with us now for 17 years. His was a strange death, that many suspect was a murder. It deprived us of the pleasure of admiring the talent of this brilliant journalist. Yesterday’s meeting on the Internet brought together the most interesting interlocutors: Nadezhda Azhgikhina, herself a wonderful journalist and widow of Yury Petrovich; Galina Arapova, director of the Mass Media Rights Centre, and Nikolay Rybakov, chair of the Yabloko party. I admit, I myself listened to our interlocutors with the greatest interest as memories of Yury Shchekochikhin melded smoothly into a discussion about the nature of journalism today. We remembered this wonderful man, an extraordinarily courageous journalist and politician. We talked about the current generation of journalists, about students, about the fate of journalism in our country – at both federal and regional levels. The hour flew by quickly, but we managed to talk about a great many things.

This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also hear these podcasts on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera. 

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Natalia Taubina, director of the Moscow-based Public Verdict Foundation (pictured left). Public Verdict is one of the leading human rights organisations in Russia. Its work focuses on abuses by public officials, not least torture and other violations by the police and prison authorities, including those at public events and demonstrations. For more information about Public Verdict, visit its website here. A summary of some of the week's events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. This podcast is in the Russian language.

If this podcast does not play immediately on the podcast.com website, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. You can also hear these podcasts on Spotify and iTunes.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Maria Kanevskaya (pictured), a civil society activist based in St. Petersburg who is one of Russia's leading lawyers working in the field of right of association. She currently heads the First NGO Laboratory. Maria talks about the development over the last 20 years of the inhospitable environment for NGOs in Russia that exists today. She describes the quite devastating impact of the foreign agent law on the right of association, especially for human rights and environmental NGOs. However, she also describes a veritable 'explosion' in the creation of unregistered, informal groups in civil society that in many ways are taking the place of registered NGOs in what is apparently a reaction against the negative regulatory environment. She also discusses funding for civil society groups. In sum, Maria provides a detailed and considered picture of civil society organisations in Russia, based on her practice as a lawyer and leader of organisations that both study and support the 'third sector.' She also talks about the impact of Coronavirus in Russia. This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to this podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify or iTunes. The music is from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera.

This week our guest is Nina Zakharkina-Berezner. Nina is a co-founder and director of the French NGO DestinationEst (D’EST) which aims to increase dialogue between Russian and French civil societies, as well as involving European politicians and opinion leaders. Her work focuses mainly on advocacy practices and exchange programmes dealing with various topics such as municipal policy, migration issues, social entrepreneurship and others. DestinationEst helps key civil society actors from Russia share their experiences with professionals and politicians in France and the EU. The questions we discuss in the podcast include: the main goals of DestinationEst; how to find partners in Russian civil society and among human rights organisations; the level of interest in France in what is happening in Russia; the views of Russian activists about France; the role of the EU-Russia Forum; the state of civil society in Russia today; the future of civil society in Russia; the work of the Memorial Human Rights Centre; and human rights in Chechnya. This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to the podcast on Rights in Russia, SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes. The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: Nina believes it is very important to draw the attention of the French public to what is happening in Russia. And she seems to be doing it successfully. Unlike Madame Narochnitskaya, whom I mention in the podcast, who opened the so-called Institute for Democracy and Cooperation in Paris 13 years ago, Nina is running very interesting projects with our compatriots. However, it’s clear that that Narochnitskaya’s is a Kremlin project, as is the so-called Russian Spiritual and Cultural Orthodox Centre, and both are engaged in something other than democracy and cooperation. Nina told us about her projects, her work with Memorial Human Rights Centre and even how, despite the pandemic, she managed to take part in a series of single-person pickets in Kamchatka.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Sergei Davidis (pictured), member of the board of Memorial Human Rights Centre and director of the Centre's programme on political prisoners. Memorial Human Rights Centre is one of the most authoritative human rights organisations in Russia. The programme headed by Sergei Davidis, among a range of activities in support of political prisoners, maintains a list of political prisoners in the Russian Federation. As of today, there are 314 names on that list. Sergei Davidis talks about how the term 'political prisoner' is defined, what can be done to secure the release of political prisoners, and what can be done to reduce the number of such prisoners in the future. This podcast is in the Russian language.  You can also hear these podcasts on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Sergei Poduzov (pictured left), co-chair of Chelovek i Zakon [Individual & the Law], a leading Russian human rights NGO founded in Yoshkar-Ola, capital of the republic of Mari El (located about 700 km east of Moscow). Since its foundation in 1999, Chelovek i Zakon has established itself as one of Russia's leading human rights groups with special expertise in the penitentiary and law enforcement systems, among other areas. This podcast is in the Russian language. 

You can also hear these podcasts SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes.

This week our podcast is devoted to the historian and head of the branch of Memorial in Karelia, Yury Dmitriev. Dmitriev's name is especially closely connected to Sandarmokh. It was he who led the expedition there in 1997 that discovered the location of the mass burials of victims of Stalinist repression. Today Dmitriev remains in pre-trial detention as he awaits the outcome of his second trial on charges of child pornography. Our guests are Irina Flige, human rights defender and director of the Memorial Scientific Research Centre, Anatoly Razumov, a historian and expert on the Stalin-era repressions, and Andrea Gullotta, a lecturer at Glasgow University and expert on the life and culture of the Gulag.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: Our conversation yesterday was extremely interesting with absolutely wonderful people: Irina Flige, director of the Memorial Scientific Research Centre (St. Petersburg); Anatoly Razumov, historian and head of the Returned Names centre (also St. Petersburg); and Andrea Gullotta, lecturer at the University of Glasgow (School of Modern Languages & Cultures) and author of Russia's Memory War on the Gulag. We talked for more than an hour about Yury Dmitriev and his work over many years to determine the burial sites of victims of political repression in Sandarmokh, Karelia. In yesterday's conversation we talked about how the Russian authorities are trying to interfere with the work of NGOs and independent researchers. About the fact that we see not only the process of rewriting history, but also the rewriting of victims' personalities. About the fact that there is a war of memory, and it is a hybrid war with different elements and aspects. Historical memory in Russia - according to Irina Flige - has hybrid forms: I remember this; I do not remember that. Andrea Gullotta spoke about his resarch into 'the war of memory.' He also noted the importance of international support for Yury Dmitriev. Historian Anatoli Razumov talked about Dmitriev as a historian. He related how they went to Sandormokh together 20 years ago. It is very important to do our utmost so that the memory of state atrocities does not go away. So that new generations know what happened, so that the history cannot be rewritten by either the Chekists who came to power, or the "specialists" serving them.

Yury Dmitriev (born 1956 in Petrozavodsk) is a human rights activist and local historian in Karelia who has worked since the early 1990s to locate the execution sites of Stalin's Terror and identify the victims. Dmitriev was arrested in December 2016 and charged with making pornographic images of his foster daughter. In April 2018 he was acquitted of the charges but sentenced to 30 months in prison for possession of a gun. In June 2018 a second criminal case was opened against him on the basis of 'newly discovered circumstances.' His second trial is ongoing and Dmitriev remains in pre-trial detention. 

This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also hear these podcasts on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera.

In this podcast, Irina Flige, human rights activist and director of the Memorial Research and Information Centre in St Petersburg, talks about her work that focuses on historical memory, the role of the Memorial Research and Information Centre and the current human rights situation in Russia. Irina was to appear at Pushkin House in April this year as a joint event of the Pushkin Club and Rights in Russia, but the event was postponed because of the coronavirus. The conversation touches upon the legacy of political repression and efforts to document – and counteract – it, the issue of why Memorial focuses on the physical evidence of repression, and includes topics such as the Sandormokh execution site, the case of Yury Dimitriev, the impact of Covid-19 and Memorial’s latest projects.

Josephine von Zitzewitz is a member of the board of Rights in Russia and a staff member at the UiT Arctic University in Norway. The video version of this podcast was first published by Pushkin House on 10 September 2020. See: https://www.pushkinhouse.org/blog/2020/9/10/historical-memory-in-russia?rq=flige

The podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to this podcast via our website (https://rightsinrussia.org/podcasts) on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/rightsinrussia) and on Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo...ei/id1495261418).

The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, performed by Karolina Herrera.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Galina Arapova (pictured left), director of the Mass Media Defence Centre, based in the city of Voronezh. The Mass Media Defence Centre is one of the leading NGOs and think tanks working on media law and the rights of journalists, bloggers and media outlets in Russia. For more information about the Mass Media Defence Centre, visit its website here. A summary of some of the week's events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. This podcast is in the Russian language.

If this podcast does not play immediately on the podcast.com website, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. You can also hear these podcasts on Spotify and iTunes.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Sergei Krivenko (pictured), coordinator of the Citizen and Army initiative, a member of the board of the International Memorial Society and a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group. Sergei has been one of the leading proponents for the introduction and development of Alternative Civilian Service for conscripts that has been introduced in post-Soviet Russia. His organisation also works to protect the rights of conscripts and improve their conditions of service. Sergei also served two terms as a member of the Presidential Council on Human Rights and Civil Society. In this wide-ranging discussion, he discusses the history of ACS in Russia, the problems that have been overcome and that still remain. He also compares the situation in Russia with other countries such as Germany and Finland, and considers the current state of Russia's on-going military reform. This podcast is in the Russian language.

You can also hear these podcasts on Podcasts.com, Spotify and iTunes.

The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera.

This week our guest is Aleksandr Vladimirovich Cherkasov, chairof the board of Memorial Human Rights Centre. Aleksandr Vladimirovich is an 'engineer physicist' by education. He has been an activist with Memorial since 1989, and since 1991 he has worked at the Memorial Human Rights Centre, investigating the state of human rights and humanitarian law in various "hot spots", including Chechnya. Aleksandr Vladimirovich also investigated the events of 1993 in Moscow. During the first and second wars in Chechnya, he travelled dozens of times to combat zones to collect information and provide assistance to the victims of the conflict, searching for missing people, prisoners, kidnapped people and hostages. After the war between Russia and Georgia in August 2008 he repeatedly travelled to South Ossetia. We talked about all this and more about how Memorial has been affected by the law on foreign agents, about Natalia Estemirova, about Oyub Titiev, about Yury Dmitriev and about human rights in today's Russia and in the future.

Sergei Nikitin writes: It has long been noticed that among human rights defenders there are many natural scientists, including those from the physical sciences. And just as under the Soviet regime scientific articles often began with Lenin's quote "The electron is as inexhaustible as the atom", so now an interview with a human rights activist with a background in science often begins with the question that goes approximately like this: "What is it in physics that turns those who study the subject into human rights activists? Simon Cosgrove and I began our conversation with Aleksandr Cherkasov in the very same vein: traditions are great things, it is not for us to break them. I would like to point out that during the conversation Aleksandr particularly emphasised the fact that he is a 'physics engineer' who is as far from being a physicist as the courtier is from the Sovereign. Perhaps this is true. But Sasha's storytelling is phenomenal, and he has much to tell. Apart from the fact that he has been involved in many things, remembers the smallest details, names and dates, he delights with his special view of events, his analysis and understanding of what is going on around him. And although Aleksandr insists that "we don't understand what's going on", stressing that this is the beauty of our world, he seems to understand a very great deal, noting that "Physics gives us reason to be optimistic under conditions of unpredictability and incomplete information," urging us to simply live in a world that is unpredictable and so beautiful. Listen to Aleksandr Cherkasov.

The podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to this podcast via our website (https://rightsinrussia.org/podcasts) on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/rightsinrussia) and on Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo...ei/id1495261418).

The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, performed by Karolina Herrera.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Dmitry Makarov (pictured left), co-chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group and co-chair of the coordinating committee of the International Youth Human Rights Movement. The Moscow Helsinki Group is one of Russia's oldest and leading human rights organisations. It was originally set up in 1976 to monitor Soviet compliance with the Helsinki Accords and Soviet human rights abuses. Forced out of existence in the early 1980s, the Moscow Helsinki Group was revived in 1989 and continues to operate in Russia today. A summary of some of the week's events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. This podcast is in the Russian language. 

If this podcast does not play immediately on the podcast.com website, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. You can also hear these podcasts on Spotify and iTunes.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin are joined by Nadia Kutepova, a human rights activist from the closed city of Ozersk in Chelyabinsk region. Nadia was director of the human rights organisation Planet of Hopes in Ozersk, specialising in the protection of the rights of those who suffered from the radiation pollution from the Mayak atomic plant based in the city. Planet of Hopes was one of the first NGOs in Russia to be branded as a 'foreign agent' organisation. In 2015 Nadia was forced to leave Russia and now lives in France where she has received political asylum. A summary of the week's events in the sphere of human rights can be found on our website here. This podcast is in the Russian language.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Valentina Cherevatenko (pictured), chair and coordinator of the NGO Women of the Don Union, and chair of the board of the Women of the Don Foundation for the Promotion of Civil Society and Human Rights. Valentina Cherevatenko has led the work of Women of the Don since the organisation was set up in 1993. The organisation is based in Novocherkassk in Rostov region. Under her inspiring leadership, the organisation has engaged over the years in numerous activities, including providing assistance to those who suffered during the war in Chechnya (such as finding missing persons, rehabilitation of those who suffered from trauma, etc.), supporting the creation of dialogue with women in places of conflict, including Chechnya and Ukraine, promoting women's rights, combating domestic violence, improving relations between the police and the public, and providing free legal and other advice. This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also hear these podcasts on Podcasts.com, Spotify and iTunes. The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Lev Ponomarev (pictured left), long-time head of For Human Rights, one of Russia's leading NGOs. In this podcast, Lev Ponomarev talks about the current state of his organisation, his recent arrest and injury as he took part in a peaceful picket outside the FSB headquarters on Lubyanka Square in Moscow, the proposed changes to the Constitution, the impact of the Coronavirus in Russia, and more generally about the main tasks facing human rights defenders in Russia today, the repressive measures against civil society groups and the right of association, the distinction between civil society activists and human rights defenders, between human rights activism and politics, and between different generations of activists. The recent interview with Sotavision to which Lev refers a couple of times during the podcast can be found here. A summary of some of the week's events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. This podcast is in the Russian language. 

If this podcast does not play immediately on the podcast.com website, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. You can also hear these podcasts on Spotify and iTunes.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Karinna Moskalenko (pictured), one of Russia's leading human rights lawyers. Karinna Moskalenko is founder and head of programmes at the Centre for International Protection, a network of groups that is based in Moscow and Strasbourg, and also has offices in Bishkek, Erevan and Kiev. The Centre specialises in bringing cases to the European Court of Human Rights. Karinna Moskalenko is a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, the Moscow Bar Association and the Moscow Lawyers' Committee for the Protection of Human Rights. She is also a Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists. She won the first ever case against the Russian Federation heard before the European Court of Human Rights and has acted as defence counsel in such high profile cases as those of Mikhail Khodorovsky. This podcast is in the Russian language.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Ashot Airapeyan, chair of the Moscow-based NGO the Centre for Intercultural and Interethnic Cooperation. Ashot relates how the organisation he had headed for 20 years since 1997, the Centre for Interethnic Cooperation, was closed down by the authorities in 2017. He also talks about the problems facing ethnic minorities in Russia and the work his organisation has done and is doing to ameliorate these problems. This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also hear these podcasts on Podcasts.com, Spotify and iTunes. The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Tatyana and Nikolai Shchur. Tatyana and Nikolai are human rights activists from the city of Snezhinsk in Chelyabinsk region. Tatyana and Nikolai began their careers as human rights defenders working on environmental issues but since the mid-1990s have focused largely on conditions of detention. For many years they have been leading members of the region's Public Oversight Commission. They also work to improve conditions of life for children without parents. A summary of the week's events in the sphere of human rights can be found on our website here. This podcast is in the Russian language.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Elena Zhemkova (pictured), executive director of International Memorial. International Memorial is one of the oldest and most respected civil society organisations in Russia that is respected worldwide for its commitment to uncovering the truth about Soviet and Russian history and the protection of human rights. International Memorial was founded at the end of the 1980s and was headed for many years by Arseny Roginsky. In this wide-ranging podcast Elena Zhemkova talks about the essence of the work of Memorial, the legacy of Arseny Roginsky, the past and present of the organisation, and looks ahead to the future. This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to this podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify or iTunes. The music is from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera.

This week our guest on the podcast is Dmitry Aleksandrovich Petrov. Dmitry Aleksandrovich is deputy chair of the council of municipal deputies of the Yakimanka district in Moscow. He is also a co-founder of an environmental project for the public monitoring of air pollution levels in his district and the city more widely.

The issues we discuss in the podcast include: What is Yakimanka district? What powers do council members have? Is the public interested in municipal elections? How much time does working as a deputy take up? Why were you elected from the Yabloko party? What were the elections in 2017 like? Are local elections similar to national ones? What is the environmental project “breathe:Moscow”? How do you see the future of your municipality and the city of Moscow?

This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen on our website or at SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes. The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: “The poem ‘I enter every house on Yakimanka,’ which we remember from childhood can well apply to Dmitry Petrov. Last week Simon Cosgrove and I spent more than an hour in an interesting conversation with Dmitry, a member of the council of deputies of the Yakimanka municipal district. A huge puddle in front of the entrance to his house, which got in everyone’s way, was, as it is now called, a trigger for Dmitry. Over the next two and a half years, Dmitry worked to convince the local government that it was their responsibility to keep the local area in good order, and as a result of his persistent reminders and demands he achieved the desired result. ‘It’s difficult to participate in the life of the city,’ says Dmitry. The bureaucrat’s art of avoiding responsibility and issuing noncommittal responses often sends citizens who have lost hope ‘back to the sofa’ with the feeling: ‘The world is against us!’ The desire to show people that in the city – at least on the municipal level – there can be government with a human face led Dmitry Petrov to run for deputy. I found his story about how he gathered signatures to stand for election particularly interesting, how he and his team visited all apartments (incidentally, when I lived in Moscow I never opened the door to any unexpected caller), how ten people were elected to the council of deputies of Yakimanka municipal district, of whom nine were from Yabloko and only one from United Russia. As to be expected, Dmitry told us how the powers of a municipal deputy (at least in Moscow) are severely restricted. As a deputy you are obliged, literally, to do very little. But if you want you can work to achieve quite major and important things for the city. The full verse of Agniya Barto’s poem sounds a little frightening: ‘I enter every house in Yakimanka. And I put iron scrap on my sled at every gate.’ Dmitry Petrov does not need iron scrap, and he does not need a sled. It seems to me that he is an excellent deputy, ready to help people, and he sees his main task as follows: ‘I would like at least some of those people whom I serve to rid themselves of the false notion of their own supposed helplessness’.”

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here

This week our guest on the podcast is Georgy Satarov, president of the INDEM Foundation. Under President Yeltsin, Georgy Satarov was a member of the Presidential Council and, in 1993, he took part in the constitutional assembly on drafting a new constitution. We asked him to comment on the new Russian constitution recently adopted in Russia. During the conversation, we talk about the new Constitution in its historical and political context - and what it means for the protection of human rights in Russia. But this is not all we talked about, as you will hear. The podcast is in Russian. You can also hear these podcasts on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. Music from "Elegy Stravinsky for Solo Viola" is played by Caroline Herrera. The photo of Georgy Satarov is from Wikipedia.

Today on the podcast our guest is Andrei Anatolyevich Kovalev. During his distinguished career, he has been a member of the Institute of the US and Canada of the USSR Academy of Sciences and then of the Diplomatic Academy. He worked for the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was a member of the secretariat of the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, worked on the staff of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, and also on the staff of the Office of the Federal Human Rights Ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin. While working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, Andrei Kovalev was engaged in many matters of vital importance for human rights: abolishing the repressive use of psychiatry, releasing political prisoners, drafting a number of laws that paved the way to liberalising foreign travel and freedom of religion. Andrei Kovalev is the author of several important publications, including 'France at the Crossroads of World Politics' (International Relations, Moscow, 1983), 'Behind the Scenes of Russian Politics' (Ibid. - Verlag, Stuttgart, 2012) and a number of articles in the journals International Life, World Economy and International Relations, USA: Economics, Politics, Ideology, The Observer, as well as the newspapers Izvestia, Novaya Gazeta and Komsomolskaya Pravda. He now lives in Brussels.

Sergei Nikitin writes: "Andrei Anatolievich Kovalyov was yesterday our guest on the podcast. He talked about the extraordinarily interesting time he spent working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR under Shevardnadze in 1985 - 1991, where his task was to bring Soviet legislation into line with the international obligations of the USSR. Kovalev spent a significant part of his diplomatic career working on democratic reforms and human rights in the USSR and Russia. His diplomatic service continued until 2004, when he became an advisor to the Federal Human Rights Ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin, at the invitation of Lukin himself. Andrei Kovalev does not have the highest level of opinion of Lukin as a defender of human rights, based on his personal experience. Of course, we also talked about the current situation. "I see no limits to the depths to which those in power may go," Andrei Anatolyevich told us yesterday about Putin and his entourage: "The Kremlin has no brakes". In sum, we had a very interesting conversation with a professional and extremely perceptive man. I look forward to reading his book "Russia's Dead End : An Insider's Testimony from Gorbachev to Putin", and I recommend our podcast to everyone."

The podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to this podcast via our website (https://rightsinrussia.org/podcasts) on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/rightsinrussia) and on Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo...ei/id1495261418).

The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, performed by Karolina Herrera.

This week our guest is Svetlana Alekseevna Gannushkina, human rights defender, chair of the Civic Assistance Committee, a member of the board and director of the Migration and Law Network of the Memorial Human Rights Centre. Until June 2012 (from 2002) Svetlana Alekseevna was a member of the Presidential Human Rights Council.

The issues we discuss in our podcast include: when and why Svetlana Alekseevna took up human rights work; about the work of the Civic Assistance Committee and the Migration and Law Network; the policy of the Russian authorities towards asylum seekers and how this can be compared with that of other countries; the law “on foreign agents”; the experience of working on the Presidential Human Rights Council; the difference between human rights protection and politics; and the future of human rights in the Russian Federation.

You can also listen to the podcast on Rights in Russia, Podcasts.com,  SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes. 

The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: "I remember 18 years ago when Svetlana Alekseevna, standing next to me in Spaso-House and watching George W. Bush Jr. approach us inexorably, told me she wanted to avoid a handshake with the US President. It was probably not a dislike, but a natural modesty that perfectly matched the courage and bravery of Gannushkina, this wonderful human rights activist. Last Saturday Simon Cosgrove and I talked to Svetlana Alekseevna and she remembered how a sense of personal dignity made her a human rights activist back in her school years. "All my 10th grade I dedicated myself to fighting with the school director," she remembered. Already after graduating from school, having bought a copy of the Labour Code of the RSFSR, Svetlana Gannushkina was able to defend her friend, who had been illegally dismissed from the Historical and Archival Institute - the girl was restored to her job. This was just the beginning of human rights activities for Svetlana Gannushkina, chair of the Civic Assistance Committee, a member of the board and head of the Migration and Law Network of Memorial Human Rights Centre. We had a very interesting conversation and it is available in our new podcast.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here

This week our guest on the podcast is Aleksei Simonov, president of the Glasnost Defence Foundation since 1991. Aleksei Simonov is a Soviet and Russian film director, writer, translator, human rights activist, teacher, journalist and editor. He was a member of the Presidential Council for Promoting Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights until 2012. In this podcast, Alexei Kirillovich talks about the enormous changes that have taken place in Russia since the last years of the Gorbachev era: the rise of glasnost, the hopes of the 1990s and the deterioration in freedom of expression in the Putin era, especially since 2012. He describes the work and experience of the Glasnost Defence Foundation, the impact of the law on so-called 'foreign agents' on civil society organisations and the difficulties faced by these organisations in obtaining funding. Aleksei Kirillovich also talks about two recent trials of journalists - Svetlana Prokopyeva and Ivan Safronov. 

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: As Aleksei Simonov once said, “I have not been burdened with government awards, but received several public awards of which I am proud.” And besides public awards, this wonderful man received what I would call universal love and respect. And by right. Last weekend Simon and I had the great pleasure to meet our mutual acquaintance, our friend Aleksei Kirillovich. The waves of the Internet brought the three of us together, although we were hundreds, even thousands of kilometres apart. I first heard the name of Aleksei Simonov many years ago when I saw the film ‘Otryad’ [The Squad] that was an important event at the beginning of perestroika. Later I got acquainted Aleksei Kirillovich in person and learned of his many talents: besides being a film director, he is also a writer, translator, human rights activist, teacher, journalist and editor. And, of course, he is president of the Glasnost Defence Foundation. Simon and I talked to Aleksei Kirillovich about all this, and now the recording of an interesting conversation is available on as our latest podcast.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. The podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. Music from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola is performed by Karolina Herrera.

Our guest this week is Igor Viktorovich Kochetkov. Igor Viktorovich - one of the founders and current director of the Russian LGBT Network, an organisation founded in 2006 whose main office is located in St. Petersburg. The Russian LGBT Network is an interregional organisation created to provide public support for the elimination of all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It is the first and only interregional LGBT organisation in Russia. The Russian LGBT Network is a member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association.

Topics discussed in the podcast include: the history of the Russian LGBT Network, its goals and objectives; why it was founded in St. Petersburg; the impact on the Russian LGBT Network of the law on foreign agents; the adoption and consequences of the 2013 law against "Promotion among Minors of Non-traditional Sexual Relations”; the situation in Russia in general and in Chechnya in particular for LGBT people; amendments to the Constitution; and what needs to be done to further promote LGBT rights.

Sergei Nikitin writes: The breaking up of the Queer Culture Festival in 2006 was the formal impetus to create an organisation now known as the Russian LGBT Network. On Sunday Simon Cosgrove and I talked to one of its founders, Igor Kochetkov. It was a very interesting conversation in which Igor told us the story of how LGBT people's rights have come to be perceived as an important component of human rights. This has happened in a relatively short time. I remember at the very beginning of my work for Amnesty International in Russia, some Amnesty activists expressed their disagreement with our position on LGBT rights. Now, this area of work for human rights defenders attracts many new people to Amnesty and is welcomed by very many. Paradoxically, it would seem, it was the shameful law of 2013 against 'Propaganda Among Minors of Non-Traditional Sexual Relations’ that has led to this turnaround. A great deal has been done by the Russian LGBT Network, and you can find out more about the organisation and its work from their website: https://www.lgbtnet.org . In the meantime, listen to our podcast with the wonderful Igor Kochetkov.

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to it on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/rightsinrussia/saymon-i-sergey-s-igorem-kochetkovym) Podcasts.com (www.podcasts.com/simon-sergei-0b5d072c0), Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) ? Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo…ei/id1495261418).

The music is from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, played by Karolina Errera

This week, our guest is Sergei Markovich Lukashevsky. Human rights activist Sergei Markovich is director of the Sakharov Centre in Moscow, a post he took up in 2008. By education a historian, Sergei Markovich has worked for both of Russia’s most famous human rights organizations, Memorial and the Moscow Helsinki Group, and, before moving to work at the Sakharov Centre, together with Tatiana Lokshina he founded and worked at Demos, a Moscow-based human rights organization that specialised in monitoring and reporting on human rights in Russia. 

The issues discussed in the podcast include: the development of the human rights movement in post-Soviet Russia and its current state, the law on foreign agents, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and, of course, the work of the Sakarov Centre, its plans for the future, the importance of Andrei Sakharov in Russia today and the upcoming centenary of his birth.

This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen on our website or at SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes. The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: “If you walk along the Zemlyannoi Val towards the Yauza river from Kursk metro station, on the even-numbered side you will see House No. 48B, where Sakharov lived, and on the odd-numbered side you will see a path that will take you past the Transfixed Pegasus and a piece of the Berlin Wall to the Rusty Angel and the Sakharov Centre. Last week, Simon Cosgrove and I talked to Sergei Lukashevsky, the director of this unique centre. Sergei Lukashevsky is someone with extensive experience working for human rights organisations (Memorial Human Rights Centre, Moscow Helsinki Group, Demos, the Sakharov Centre) and he considers the promotion of human rights values his main task. In my opinion, he is doing a great job: the Sakharov Centre has become a public and educational platform where numerous important and useful events, exhibitions, debates and seminars are held. Sometimes events at the Centre irritate characters who are rather excitable and unusual. The Centre’s employees are ready for anything and do an excellent job. Next year the world will be celebrating the centenary of Sakharov’s birth, and of course the Centre, which was established in 1996 on the initiative of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, will be hosting many interesting events. We talked to Sergei about all this but I have the feeling he only had time to touch on the tip of the iceberg that goes by the name of the Sakharov Centre.” 

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here

This week our guest is Mikhail Valentinovich Savva. Mikhail Savva is a human rights activist, a political scientist and former professor at Kuban State University. In 1993-1994 Mikhail Savva was head of the Department of Nationalities, Regional Policy and Migration of the Krasnodar Region Administration. In 1994-1995 he headed the Department for Nationalities Affairs of the Ministry of Nationalities and Regional Policy of Russia, a position from which he resigned over the first Chechen war. In 1995-1996, Savva was deputy gead of the Krasnodar Region Administration and the Administration's representative to the Regional Legislative Assembly. He then became head of Krasnodar City Hall's department for public and interregional relations. From 1996 Savva worked at Kuban State University where he was an associate professor and then professor in the Department of Political Science; from 2001 he was a professor in the Department of Public Relations and Social Communications. From January 2001 Mikhail Savva also held the position of director of grantmaking programmes at the Southern Regional Resource Centre, an NGO. He was also a member of the Krasnodar Region Public Oversight Commission, monitoring human rights in places of detention. Savva is a specialist in the field of interethnic relations research and the author of a large number of publications in this field. In April 2013 a criminal case was initiated against Savva under Article 159, Part 3, of the Russian Criminal Code ('Fraud on an especially large scale'). In June 2013 the Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners recognised Mikhail Savva as a political prisoner. In April 2014 a district court in Krasnodar convicted Savva and gave him a three-year suspended sentence. Since 2015 Mikhail Savva has lived in Kiev. He is currently chairof the board of the Owl Expert Group, an NGO registered in Ukraine.

The issues discussed in the podcast include: the reasons for, and course of, his criminal prosecution; conditions in pre-trial detention centre; the major issues facing the Russian judicial and law enforcement systems; the Southern Resource Centre; right of association in Russia and Ukraine; relations between Russia and Ukraine; the future of Russia.

Sergei Nikitin writes: "Hoping for justice in modern Russia is a sign of not being in your right mind." Our latest guest on the podcast, Mikhail Valentinovich Savva, told Simon Cosgrove and me how, since April 2013, the FSB has been mocking him, accusing him of not having conducted the classes in social entrepreneurship planned as part of a project under a grant from the regional administration. "In fact, I conducted even more of them than was required," says Mikhail Savva. In May 2013 a second case was initiated against Savva, already under Article 159 of the Criminal Code. He spent a year in pre-trial detention centre ? 5, in a cell of 9.5 square meters on the 4th floor of the building of the NKVD internal prison built under Yezhov. A year after his home was first searched - in April 2014 - Savva was given a three-year suspended sentence. He left behind the walls built by Yezhov, but it was clear to the professor that the local Chekists would not stop at this. At the end of 2014 he was again brought in for questioning. After this interrogation, it became clear to Savva that any day fresh fabricated charges would be laid against him. In early 2015, Mikhail Valentinovich left Russia. In a country where courts - according to Savva - are fully dependent on the FSB, where candidates for judges are reviewed by the FSB before being appointed, there is no justice. Mikhail Savva is carrying on his work, now in Ukraine. He writes expert opinions at the request of lawyers from European countries, the United States, Ukraine, Russia and Israel with regard to asylum and extradition cases. Our conversation was extremely interesting. I kept catching myself thinking that I was glad that this wonderful man managed to slip out of the hands of the Chekists. But I regret he had to leave his home, his country.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. The podcast is in the Russian language. The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera. 

This week our guest is Marina Alekseevna Dubrovina. Marina Alekseevna is a human rights defender and lawyer from Novorossiisk. For many years Marina Alekseevna has worked with the Migration and Law network, which is part of the Memorial organisation. She has also worked with the Public Verdict Foundation. Marina Alekseevna has defended many individuals in prosecutions in Chechnya, including the human rights defender Oyub Titiev.

The questions we discuss in the podcast include: the Oyub Titiev case and other high profile court cases in Chechnya and elsewhere; the human rights situation in Chechnya, Krasnodar region and Russia in general; the use of torture by law enforcement agencies; the role of the European Court of Human Rights; problems of the judicial and law enforcement systems in today’s Russia; the attack on Marina and the journalist Elena Milashina; the safety of human rights defenders and lawyers, especially in Chechnya; how Marina became a human rights lawyer; and the future of human rights and the rule of law in Russia.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: I have always admired human rights defenders who live outside the capitals. Marina Dubrovina, who lives in Novorossiisk, is among them. She is a wonderful lawyer who started her career after attending a lecture by Karinna Moskalenko. In the conversation that Simon and I had with Marina last week, Marina talked about about how this lecture “turned her life around.” Marina has been a lawyer with the human rights organisation Migration and Law since 2003, and since 2007 she has been an advokat (barrister), always distinguished by her high professionalism and – I would add – courage. We talked to Marina both about the attack on her in February this year and about an attempt to deprive her of her lawyer’s status. We discuss the Oyub Titiev case and the cases of Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klych. We recalled the cases of Vitishko and Ghazaryan,  Mikhail Savva and Vyacheslav Merekha – all these people were defended by Marina Dubrovina. They and many others have been helped by this outstanding lawyer from Novorossisk.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. You can also listen to the podcast on Podcasts.com,  SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes.  The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

This week our guest on the podcast is Igor Averkiev, civil society activist and human rights defender from Perm. Among the many themes we discuss are: how Igor became involved in civil society activity, the work of Perm Civic Chamber (1996-2020), what made Perm a centre of civil society activity in Russia, the difference between civil society activism and politics, the relationship between civil society and government in Russia, the impact of the 'foeign agent' law and the future of civil society and human rights in Russia. 

Sergei Nikitin writes: The city of Perm has always seemed to me like some amazing place where there are a lot of wonderful human rights defenders who work successfully in many areas. Where civil society, through its activists, is able to cooperate constructively with the local authorities: governors and mayors. My only visit to this city – many years ago – only strengthened my feelings. Years have passed, the situation has changed: the authorities are not longer doing much to support active people with initiative who are independent of them. But here, too, Perm’s human rights defenders have won: the brand of foreign agents has been removed from the region’s leading NGOs, including the Perm Civic Chamber. Perm Civic Chamber (PCC), which existed from 1996 until this year, was initiated by Igor Averkiev. He was also its chair. Yesterday, Simon and I talked with Igor. We had a very interesting conversation: Igor Averkiev said that the recently closed Perm Civic Chamber because it had fulfilled its mission. Civil society in Perm has matured. Igor noted three phenomena of today that are typical not only for Perm: the presence of an independent, large-scale volunteer movement, charity on the part of private citizens, and the emergence of specific civic communities (green organisations, animal rights, etc.) You can hear our conversation in this podcast.

If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. The podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. Music from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola is performed by Karolina Herrera.

This week our guest in the podcast is Olga Sadovskaya from the Nizhny Novgorod human rights NGO, Committee against Torture. The Committee against Torture is headed by Igor Kaliypin. Olga Sadovskaya is the head of the department for international legal protection. Since its establishment in 2000, the Committee against Torture has undergone many changes but remains one of the leading human rights organizations in Russia and has never changed its focus, which is on working to prevent torture in police detention.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: "I heard about the Committee Against Torture for the first time many years ago: Amnesty International took part in the Mikheev Case, which Nizhny Novgorod human rights activists had taken up. It was while working on the Mikheev case that Nizhny Novgorod human rights defenders decided to establish a specialized organization - the Committee against Torture. On 26 June - the International Day of Support to Victims of Torture - activists from the Committee Against Torture and Amnesty International went out on joint public actions: in Moscow I had the chance to participate in several. That's when I met almost all the Committee's staff. Yesterday Simon Cosgrove and I spent a whole hour in conversation with Olga Sadovskaya, head of the department for international legal protection at the Committee against Torture. Alas, in all the years that have passed since the creation of the Committee Against Torture, the problem has become no less important. The Levada Center informs us that one in ten Russians has faced violence or the threat of violence from law enforcement agencies. And prosecutions of police officers, even in where violations have been publicised, are extremely rare. Even less often do they reach trial and sentencing. Igor Kalyapin told me of the sad 'records' of their practice: how many times the prosecutor's office has denied human rights defenders in certain cases! I admire the Committee's persistent pursuit of a noble cause: it helps victims to restore justice. Alas, the state seems to be less and less prepared to cooperate with human rights defenders, but they do not give up."

The podcast is in Russian. You can also hear these podcasts on Podcasts.com, Spotify and iTunes. Music from "Elegy Stravinsky for Solo Viola" by Caroline Herrera.

Translated from the organization's website (https://www.pytkam.net): "In 1998 the prosecutor's office for Nizhny Novgorod region responded to human rights defenders' complaints about torture by the police, in which, among other things, it stated: '"Facts" of the use of "torture" on the territory of the region have not been established.' This document served as the basis for the establishment of the Nizhny Novgorod Committee against Torture in 2000. Since then, the word 'torture' has been used by Nizhny Novgorod prosecutors without quotes, and the concept has become an established fact. Also without the quotes. Over time, the Committee against Torture began to work in other regions of Russia, using its own methodology for conducting public investigations. Thanks to the work of the organization's lawyers, by February 2020 147 law enforcement officers had been convicted for the very 'facts of torture,' the existence of which was denied by the Nizhny Novgorod prosecutor's office. In January 2015, the Ministry of Justice entered the Committee against Torture in the register of non-profit organizations acting as a foreign agent. Accordingly, on 1 August 2015, members of the organization decided to dissolve it. On 3 August 2015, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture began work. However, in January 2016 the Ministry of Justice also included this organization in the register of 'foreign agents.' In this connection, the members of the organization also decided to liquidate it. Currently, the organization works under its historical name of Committee against Torture without a legal entity.

This week our guest is Viktor Valentinovich Kogan-Yasny. Viktor Valentinovich is a commentator on public affairs, writer and philosopher. Since 1989 he has been actively involved in public life. He started as an activist of Moscow Tribune and Memorial and in 1990-91 he worked with the Voters' Club of the Academy of Sciences and the Interregional Group of Deputies of the First Congress of Soviet People's Deputies. He was an aide to the chair of the Human Rights Committee of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet. Since 1992, he has been chair of the board of the Society against the Death Penalty and Torture, which has now become the NGO, Regional Civic Initiative - Right to Life and Civil Dignity. Viktor Valentinovich is one of the founders of Memorial Human Rights Centre and a member of its board. Since 1995, he has been an advisor both to the Yabloko party and to Grigory Yavlinsky. Among the topics we discuss in the podcast are the death penality in Russia, Amnesty International, the links between political developments and human rights, the recent apparent poisoning of Aleksei Navalny and events in Khabarovsk and Belarus. 

Sergei Nikitin writes: Viktor Valentinovich Kogan-Yasny is the latest guest of our podcast. Simon Cosgrove and I spent a very interesting hour with Viktor Valentinovich. I was especially interested to hear his story about how he found premises for Amnesty International in Moscow. In 1991 Marjorie Farquharson, the first representative of the oldest human rights organization in Russia, opened an office for the organisation on Herzen Street with the help of Viktor. The phone number that was allocated to the Amnesty office has remained unchanged for almost 30 years. Victor may not be very familiar to  the general public, but he is a very interesting interlocutor. In 1990-91. Viktor Kogan-Yasny was an assistant chair of the Human Rights Committee of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet. It was he who founded the Society against the Death Penalty and Torture, where in 1992 he became chair of the board. I read with great interest the posts of Viktor Kogan-Yasny, one of the oldest members of the Yabloko Party, writer and philosopher.

The podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on Podcasts.com (www.podcasts.com/simon-sergei-0b5d072c0), Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo...ei/id1495261418). The music is from the Elegy for Solo Viola by Stravinsky, performed by Karolina Herrera.

This week our guest on the podcast is Tatyana Voltskaya, journalist and poet from St Petersburg, against whom a criminal case was opened in April for so-called "fake news". Among other things, Tatyana talks about this case, about the case of Svetlana Prokopyeva in Pskov, about freedom of speech in Russia, and reads her poems - including a poem about Yury Dmitriev.

Sergei Nikitin writes: I don't remember which poet wrote: "Our poems are taken seriously. They shoot you for poetry". The Journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva said in her final address to the court at her trial: "Repression is developing gradually. It is impossible to predict when restrictions on rights and persecution of dissent will turn into concentration camps and shootings". Yesterday Simon Cosgrove and I spent an hour in an interesting conversation with the poetess Tatiana Voltskaya. She is not only known for her poetry. She is a journalist who interviewed a St. Petersburg intensive care specialist. The doctor told Tatiana about the work of St. Petersburg hospitals, about the lack of doctors and ventilators during the coronavirus pandemic. Soon after the publication of the text about the terrible reality, the authorities showed an interest in the article and it soon became clear to her that the authorities - instead of helping the sick, doctors and hospitals - had decided to prosecute her for a criminal offence. The reason was the interview, 'People are being switched off from life support. An intensive care doctor speaks about the hellish conditions of work.' They decided to immediately apply the newly adopted Article 207.1 of the Criminal Code. We can, of course, only be glad that Tatyana Voltskaya is not going to be shot for her article. That her case has reportedly been reclassified from criminal to administrative. But, as Tatiana writes, "Captain Chernetsov opens his mouth, and his smooth teeth whiten" - this Leviathan, if he retreats, then a little. If he retreats, then in order to regroup his forces for evil, and again get his teeth into those who tell the truth, write poetry, or put on performances. They will be tormented by prosecutions, courts, fines. And only peaceful protest by civil society will be able to postpone the moment when persecution of dissent turns into concentration camps and shootings. Listen to our conversation with Tatiana Voltska and her wonderful podcast poetry. The podcast is in Russian. You can also hear these podcasts on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. Music from "Elegy Stravinsky for Solo Viola" by Caroline Herrera.

Our guest this week is Elena Shakhova, chair of Citizens' Watch, one of the leading human rights organizations in St. Petersburg. Elena Shakhova joined Citizens' Watch in 1998 (the organization itself was founded in 1992) and became its chair in 2014 on the death of the group's founder and leader, Boris Pavlovich Pustyntsev. In the podcast, we discuss with Elena the achievements of Citizens' Watch, the organisation's past and present, the impact of the law on "foreign agents", government policy towards civil society organizations, the human rights situation in St. Petersburg and the current state of human rights in the Russian Federation, in the present time and in the near future.

Sergei Nikitin writes: “When prosecutors who come to us to conduct an inspection leaf through our charter, it is especially unpleasant for them to read this: “Citizens' Watch helps to establish oversight by civil society over the activities of law enforcement state bodies - the army, the police and the special services - to prevent them from violating the constitutional rights of citizens.” Elena Shakhova told us this in yesterday's conversation with Simon and me. Elena joined Citizens' Watch, an organisation set up on the initiative of Boris Pavlovich Pustyntsev with the active participation of Yury I. Vdovin in 1998. After the death of Boris Pavlovich, Elena became the chair of the NGO in 2014. You should certainly listen to how Citizens' Watch has worked all these years, how things are going today, and how Lena sees the future."

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on Sound Cloud (https://soundcloud.com/rightsinrussia) Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and iTunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo ... ei / id1495261418).

The music from "Stravinsky's Elegy for Viola Solo" is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Our guest this week is Pavel Chikov. Pavel is a well-known lawyer, human rights activist and public figure who is head of Agora International Human Rights Group. He lives in Kazan. During the podcast we discuss strategic issues of court practice and what distinguishes successful court practice from unsuccessful; Agora's priorities in litigation; the degree of independence of Russian courts; the regulatory framework for NGOs in Russia and the impact of the law on "foreign agents"; the recent constitutional changes; the role of the European Court of Human Rights in Russia; the attractiveness of working in the field of human rights for young lawyers; events in Khabarovsk and Belarus; and the future of human rights in Russia.

Sergei Nikitin writes: Everyone knows Chikov. Well, or almost everybody. So that even more people get to know him better, Simon Cosgrove and I talked to Pavel. We had a very interesting conversation. Pavel Chikov talked about what success in the world of lawyering is and about the cases on which Agora's lawyers are working. We discussed a great deal apart from legal issues: about the fact that human rights vocabulary is not very clear to ordinary citizens, about how almost a thousand cases are handled by Apology of Protest, a specialised group set up by Agora, about Agora’s work protecting activists, bloggers, journalists and NGOs. In 2015 the Agora Interregional Association of Human Rights Organizations, which had existed since 2005, was transformed into the Agora International Human Rights Group, with Pavel Chikov at its head. Listen to our conversation, I’m sure you’ll find it very interesting.

The podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on Podcasts.com (www.podcasts.com/simon-sergei-0b5d072c0), Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo...ei/id1495261418). The music is from the Elegy for Solo Viola by Stravinsky, performed by Karolina Herrera.

This week our guest is Semyon Simonov, a human rights activist from Sochi in Krasnodar region. For many years, Semyon Simonov has been head of the regional human rights NGO, Southern Human Rights Centre, which provided free legal assistance on human rights violations, organized educational events and facilitated other civic initiatives in collaboration with other NGOs until it effectively ceased to function in 2017 because of fines imposed under the ‘foreign agent’ law. On 20 July 2020 the authorities charged human rights activist Semyon Simonov under Art. 315, Part 2, of the Russian Criminal Code – i.e. a charge of non-execution of a court decision, in accordance with which the organization Southern Human Rights Centre had been fined under the ‘foreign agent’ law. Our podcast is about this case – although we also succeeded in asking Semyon many other questions, as you will heare.

Regarding the charges brought against Semyon Simonov, on 20 July 2020 Dunja Mijatovic, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, said in a statement: “Today’s indictment of Semyon Simonov, a Russian human rights defender in Sochi, for not complying with the legislation on non-commercial organisations is alarming and will have a massive chilling effect on the entire human rights community in Russia.“

Human Rights Watch in a statement said: “This attack against a human rights defender demonstrates how the Russian authorities continue to use the repressive foreign agents law to criminalize the important work of independent groups. Not only should the case against Semyon Simonov be dropped immediately, but the foreign agents law needs to go.”

Frontline Defenders has also issued a statement on the case: “Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned by the indictment of Semyon Simonov and believes that the pressure on and harassment against him is a concerted attempt to effectively make it impossible for him to carry out his human rights activities in Russia. Front Line Defenders reiterates its concern regarding the extension of the “foreign agents” law to include individuals, as it places human rights defenders under increased risk and further hampers their peaceful and legitimate human rights work.”

In its press release on the case, Human Rights Watch noted: “Human Rights Defenders are afforded specific recognition and protection in international law to enable them to carry out their human rights work without undue interference. The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders underscores that everyone performing activities in defense of human rights has the right to seek the protection and realization of human rights at the national and international levels, to conduct human rights work individually and in association with others, to form associations and nongovernmental organizations, and to be protected in the event of violations. The declaration sets out a series of principles and rights drawn from international human rights instruments that are legally binding. It was adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly.”

This podcast is in Russian.

You can also listen to this podcast on  SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes. 

The music from “Stravinsky’s Elegy for Viola Solo” is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Maria Karp is a London-based freelance translator, journalist and writer. She is the author of a recently published Russian biography of George Orwell and editor of the Orwell Society Journal.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. 

Sergei Nikitin and Simon Cosgrove start the New Year with a discussion of events of the past week in Russia that have bearing on human rights.

This week Sergei Nikitin is on vacation and Simon Cosgrove is joined by Vyacheslav Bakhmin, co-chair of both the Moscow Helsinki Group and the Andrei Sakharov Centre in Moscow, and a well-known expert on civil society in Russia. A summary of the week's events, some of which are referred to in the discussion, can be found on our website here. This podcast is in the Russian language.

Sergei Nikitin and Simon Cosgrove discuss events of the past week in Russia, a summary of which can be found here.

Sergei Nikitin and Simon Cosgrove discuss events of the past week in Russia, a summary of which can be found here.

This week our guest on the podcast is Olga Borisovna Sidorovich. Olga Borisovna is director of the Institute of Law and Public Policy and editor-in-chief of two important law journals: Sravnitelnoe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie and Mezhdunarodnoe pravosudie. The Institute of Law and Public Policy is an NGO and one of the leading independent legal centres in Russia. It was founded in 2000 and is engaged in the study of constitutional processes in Russia and worldwide, strategic litigation, legal education, research and publishing. The Institute’s engagement in strategic litigation via the procedure of Amicus Curiae has resulted in case law decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the European Court of Human Rights. In 1993, when the new Constitution of Russia was being created, the Centre for Constitutional Studies of Eastern and Central Europe was established under the Moscow Public Research Foundation. Seven years later, it was transformed into an independent organisation – the Institute of Law and Public Policy.

The issues discussed in the podcast include the history and work of the Institute of Law and Public Policy; the amicus curiae procedure; reform of the Russian Constitutional Court; amendments to the Constitution made this year; ongoing changes in NGO legislation and the future of the NGO sector; and the future of Russia’s legal system.

This podcast is in the Russian language

This week Sergei Nikitin and Simon Cosgrove are joined by Jens Siegert, blogger, journalist and expert on civil society in Russia. The first part is an interview with Jens; in the second part Simon and Sergei discuss events of the past week in Russia, a summary of which can be found here.

This week our guest on our podcast is Sofiya Yurievna Ivanova. Sofiya is a human rights activist in Ryazan, where she grew up and graduated from the Lomonosov Pedagogical Institute. Sofiya leads the work of the Ryazan School of Human Rights and was a long-time organizer of youth programmes at Ryazan Memorial and the International Youth Legal Camp “Citizen of the World.” Since 2009 Sofiya has been the coordinator of the Ryazan branch of Golos, the indepdent election monitor. Sofiya Yurievna is a laureate (2016) of the Moscow Helsinki Group award for her contribution to human rights education.

The podcast discusses the following issues: membership in the Komsomol and the CPSU; the Ryazan School of Human Rights and youth programmes at Ryazan Memorial, including the “Citizen of the World” youth camps; teaching human rights courses at a number of educational institutions in Ryazan; working as a coordinator of Golos in Ryazan; development of the human rights movement in Ryazan and its current state; the difference between the work of a human rights defender in Moscow and in the regions; the law on foreign agents and its impact; the future of human rights in Ryazan and in Russia.

This podcast is in the Russian language. You can listen to it here:

You can also listen to the podcast on Rights in Russia,  SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes. The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: About ten years ago I travelled to Ryazan to discuss with Sofia Ivanova the matter of cooperation with Amnesty International in the field of human rights education. We talked about what training would be worthwhile and where – the conversation was in a deserted cafe. Literally five minutes after the start of our conversation, a young lady came in and for some reason chose a table next to ours in the deserted room. She even sat down with her back to the nearest side of her table, opened her laptop and leaned back on the chair. I don’t remember if she drank coffee or tea, but her ear, big as a radar, was turned towards us. A familiar story, Sofia Yurievna and I thought, and left the disappointed eavesdropper for another cafe. Such nervousness among people with large ears is not surprising. After all, Sofia Yurievna Ivanova, in their opinion, is a dangerous person. The head of the Ryazan School of Human Rights, head of youth programmes at Ryazan Memorial, a long-time organizer of the International Youth Legal Camp ‘Citizen of the World’, she is someone who tells her compatriots about human rights – and what can be scarier than that for local officials. In addition to this, Sofia Ivanova heads the Ryazan regional branch of Golos, the election monitor. She was our interlocutor in this, our latest podcast with Simon Cosgrove. It’s fascinating to hear about the life of a human rights defenders in a regional centre such as Ryazan.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here.

This short podcast presents another opportunity to hear Tatyana Voltskaya reading her poems, including a poem dedicated to Yury Dmitriev.  The podcast is in Russian. You can also hear these podcasts on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. Music from "Elegy Stravinsky for Solo Viola" by Caroline Herrera.

Welcome to the seventh episode of our new Russian-language podcast Then & Now with me, Teresa Cherfas. In recent weeks, politically motivated trials and lengthy prison terms in Putin’s Russia reached a new peak. Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment for treason and Evgenia Berkovich and Svetlana Petriichuk have been remanded in custody awaiting trial for “justifying terrorism” in connection with the staging of a play. Some say these developments signify a return to the USSR of the 1970s, others that it is reminiscent of Stalinist purges. Our guest today, Boris Kuznetsov, is a lawyer who played a key role in the first high profile trial of Putin’s presidency – he defended the interests of relatives of the sailors who died on the Kursk nuclear submarine, which sank in 2000. We invited him to share with us his experiences of the Kursk case in particular, and more widely his observations and reflections on the legal system and practice of jurisprudence in Putin’s Russia. The recording was made on 1 June 2023.

Our guest on the podcast this week is the Russian cartoonist Vyacheslav Shilov. He was born in 1970 in Potsdam, Germany. Until recently Vyacheslav Shilov, a member of the Union of Artists and Graphic Artists of the International Federation of UNESCO, lived in St. Petersburg. Today Vyacheslav with his family is outside Russia - in Europe. Vyacheslav Shilov in addition to his talent is known for his civic position. He has worked with the St. Petersburg Ombudsman Aleksander Shishlov (everyone remembers his wonderful human rights calendar). Vyacheslav also drew for Amnesty International: the cover of Amnesty’s report on "Agents of the People" was created by Vyacheslav Shilov.

The topics we discuss on the podcast include: his education and early career as an artist;

The questions we ask Vyacheslav Shilov include:

1) You have lived in Potsdam, Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg and now Europe. What has inspired you to move from place to place?

2) You graduated in journalism from St. Petersburg State University and yet we know you as an artist. Did they teach you to draw at the University?

3) How did you became involved with human rights activists?

4) You have drawn for many newspapers (Nevskoe Vremya, Vecherniy Peterburg, Smena). Have you experienced censorship in your work?

5) Are there differences of opinion among St. Petersburg artists (and not just cartoonists)? Is there a division between "patriots" and "regime critics"?

6) You have recently left Russia with your family after receiving threats. When did these attacks increase in intensity?

7) How do you assess the situation in Russia? Are all people engaged in the arts leaving or planning to leave? A lot of people compare the current situation with the emigration to Constantinople in the 1920s or to the ‘Philosophers’ Steamship’ when intellectuals left Russia after the revolution. Do you agree with these analogies?

8) How do you see the future of human rights activism in Russia? What awaits the country and the world?

9) What plans do you have while you are in Europe?

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website, SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: “There were several reasons for our departure,” Vyacheslav Shilov said. “The final straw, after which I no longer wished to remain in Russia, was the fact that in the school where we had enrolled our son (it’s a good school, of high quality, with good facilities) they began to give political education to the children, talking about the glorious victories of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.”

Slava Shilov, our guest on our latest podcast, is a St. Petersburg artist, a great caricaturist and a brilliant graphic artist, told us that when he and his family flew from St. Petersburg to Istanbul, several associations with the past of our motherland surfaced in his mind. These were the ‘Philosophers’ Steamship’ and the exodus to Constantinople. The passengers on the only voyage that day, the voyage to that very Constantinople, were quiet, intelligent people.

Involuntarily comes to mind the history of a hundred years ago, when more than 150 000 people left Russia on 126 ships. And the ‘Philosophers’ Steamship’ on which in 1922 almost three hundred people left Russia, deported by the Kremlin authorities. ‘The future has been stolen,’ says Vyacheslav Shilov, one of the thousands of Russians who left a country that has become an aggressor, a country that has become a disgrace.

For how long?

You can help Vyacheslav Shilov by buying his work at https://cartoonagency2.blogspot.com/2020/06/artoon.html

(c) Viacheslav Shilov - illustration for Amnesty International report "Russia: Agents of the people: Four years of "foreign agents" law in Russia: Consequences for the society

My guests today are Mamuka Kuparadze, the founder of Studio Re in Tbilisi, which works to advance ‘people’s diplomacy’ through documentary film, and Aleksandr Pichugin, a Russian journalist, originally from Nizhny Novgorod, who left Russia with his family immediately after the announcement of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and started a new life in Tbilisi.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the flow of Russian citizens fleeing the war to Georgia has reached an unprecedented 100,000. That’s the size of two small Georgian cities such as Gori, for example.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, relations between Georgia and Russia have not been easy. There have been wars of secession, first in South Ossetia, then in Abkhazia, and their de facto removal from Georgian government control. And the culmination of these wars, we can say, took place 15 years later, in 2008, when Russia invaded Georgia and won a five-day war after which Russia “officially” recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia (both are still considered by the international community as legitimate parts of Georgia. Georgia itself calls them Russian-occupied territories).

In this edition of ‘Then and Now’, we take a look at how Georgian society and government perceives these immigrants from Russia and how Russian immigrants live there.

The recording was made on 4 January 2024.

My questions include:

• Aleksandr, what pushed you to such an important decision for yourself and your family? After all, it is not easy to start from scratch in a foreign country?
• Why Georgia? Did the visa system play a role in your decision?
• Did you find a place to live? A job? Tell us a little about how you solved such domestic problems and how you were received by Georgian society. Is there a sense of a separate ‘Russian world’ in Tbilisi?
• Mamuka, Studio Re recently released a short movie about how the local population feels about the flow of Russian immigrants into their country. What were the main findings of your research?
• How does the flow of Russians into Georgia affect the country’s economy?
• Against the background of extremely uneasy and tense relations with Putin’s Russia, how do the Georgian government and civil society feel about the presence of so many Russians on Georgian territory, Mamuka?
• Refugees from Ukraine have also come to Georgia. Aleksandr, is the presence of Ukrainians felt in your circles?
• The Georgian border service has denied entry to the country to several Russian citizens who are critical of Putin’s regime, such as Mikhail Fishman, journalist, presenter and analyst of TV Dozhd, and others. What is the explanation for this, Mamuka? What is the position of the country’s ruling party, the ‘Georgian Dream’, towards today’s Russia?
• How does it differ from the position of activists in civil society?
• Aleksandr, how did you in Georgia perceive the new flow of Russian immigrants, which began immediately after the announcement of mobilization on 22 October? Do you feel a difference in the motivation and goals of the first wave compared to the second?
• Has the war with Ukraine given rise to new anxieties on the part of Russia in Georgia, Mamuka?
• How do Russians in Georgia see their future? Have some already returned to Russia? How do you personally see your future, Aleksandr?

My guest today is Natalya Zyagina, head of the Moscow branch of Amnesty International shut down by the Russian authorities in 2022. Natalya Zvyagina has a long record as a Russian human rights activist. She is originally from the city of Voronezh, where she worked for many years in the Interregional Human Rights Group. Natalya has also worked at the Institute for Law and Public Policy, a non-profit organization based in Moscow, and at the Russian branch of Transparency International.

This recording was made on 30 November 2023.

In addition to our website, you can also listen to the podcast on SoundCloud, Podcasts.com, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 

My questions include:

• First of all, please tell us about your work in Voronezh. What prompted you to become involved in human rights work?
• In the 1990s Voronezh became one of the main centres of human rights activity in Russia, and many of Russia’s leading human rights defenders come from there. What do you attribute this to?
• In 2018, you took up the post of head of Amnesty International’s Moscow office. What were your expectations at that time? What was Amnesty’s role in Russia at that time? How did the Russian human rights community feel about the organisation?
• Looking back, how do you assess the change in the status of Aleksei Navalny, whose recognition as a prisoner of conscience was removed for a while, although now he is again recognised as such? And how important is Amnesty’s classification of people as “prisoners of conscience” for the Russian public and human rights community in general?
• In March 2022, the Russian media regulator blocked access to Amnesty International’s Russian-language website. What impact did this decision have on your work?
• In April of the same year Russian authorities removed the Amnesty’s registration as a representative office in Moscow. In addition to Amnesty’s office, the Russian Ministry of Justice closed the offices of 15 representative offices of foreign NGOs and foundations, including Human Rights Watch, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Heinrich Böll, Friedrich Naumann, Friedrich Ebert, and other organizations. The Justice Ministry said at the time that this was done “in connection with revealed violations of Russian law.” What was all this in fact about?
• At the time, Agnès Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, said that Amnesty would continue its work to document and expose human rights abuses in Russia despite the office closure. How easy was it for Amnesty to continue its work without a Moscow office? What has been your personal situation and that of other staff members since then?
• Where were you when Russia invaded Ukraine? Did the invasion of Ukraine come as a shock to you?
• Are the current extreme measures against human rights in Russia a result of the war? Or have the policies of the Putin regime been moving in this repressive direction anyway?
• After all these events, a new conflict has erupted in the Middle East. Has this had any impact on your work at Amnesty?
• How do you assess the events in Dagestan in relation to the war in the Middle East?
• Many human rights defenders have left Russia. What is life like for those who have remained in the country? Can they do any meaningful work at all?
• Recently, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs drafted a bill that would require foreigners visiting Russia to declare their “loyalty” to the Russian authorities. What does this mean?
• How do you see the future of human rights work in Russia?

Welcome to the third episode of our new Russian-language podcast Then & Now with me, Teresa Cherfas.  

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 everything, everywhere, suddenly looked different. That day was a watershed. Guests on the Then & Now podcast are people for whom February 24 became a defining moment, dividing their lives into before and after the war.

Today’s guest is Lev Gudkov, a sociologist and director of the analytical Levada Centre, Russia’s leading independent polling organisation. He is also editor-in-chief of the journal The Russian Public Opinion Herald. Lev Dmitrievich has worked at the Levada Centre since its founding, initiated by Yury Levada in 2003. After the death of Yury Levada in 2006, Lev Dmitrievich becamse the director of the Centre. In September 2016 the Levada Centre was designated as a ‘foreign agent’ organisation, a move which at the time Lev Gudkov said amounted to ‘political censorship.’

This recording took place on 16 March 2023

Welcome to the ninth edition of our Russian-language podcast Then & Now with me, Teresa Cherfas. 

My guest today is Tetyana Sokolova, a professional midwife of 40 years at Mariupol Maternity Hospital No. 2, on the left bank of Mariupol near Azovstal, the industrial plant that became a centre of resistance against the Russian invaders. 

On 9 March, the city’s Maternity Hospital No. 3 was bombed by Russian aircraft and the whole world watched with horror pictures of the destroyed building and Ukrainian soldiers’ desperate attempts to save the life of a pregnant woman, as she lay on a stretcher among the ruins.

Three pregnant women from the rubble of Maternity Hospital No. 3 were brought to Tetyana and her team of midwives, 

For her work, her resilience and her bravery under the most difficult of conditions, Tetyana was awarded the international Anna Politkovskaya prize, named in honour of the murdered journalist.

My questions

1.  Where were you when you realised that Russia had invaded Ukraine? What was your reaction and what were your first thoughts?

2.  You went to work on 2 March.  Did you waver at all in your decision?  After all, it was less than a week since the war had started.  What made you to go to work that day?

3.  Tell us about the events of 9 March and how they impacted you personally.

4.  You have worked in Mariupol all your professional life - what made you become a midwife?

5. Could you ever have imagined that you would be an eyewitness to alleged war crimes?

6. How did you escape from Mariupol?

7. Where do you live now?

8. Do you cherish hopes of returning to Mariupol one day? 

10.  Were you surprised to be awarded the Anna Politkovskaya prize? Did you know about her before?

Welcome to the twentieth edition of our Russian-language podcast Then & Now with me, Teresa Cherfas. My guest today is Olga Sadovskaya, a lawyer from the civil society group, Team Against Torture. The project’s members have been investigating complaints by Russians about torture for over two decades. Thanks to their work, hundreds of cases of torture by law enforcement officers have reached the courts and compensation from the state has been awarded to their victims. Olga Sadovskaya lives and works in her native city of Nizhny Novgorod. She graduated from Lobachevsky State University with a degree in Public International Law, defending the first thesis in Russia on the prohibition of torture and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights on this issue. She has been taking cases to the European Court of Human Rights for over 20 years. This podcast was recorded on 20 June 2024.

My questions include:

1. You chose a rather unusual topic for your diploma. In 2003, when you defended it, what profession did you think you would pursue in the future?
2. How did it come about that you specialised in torture?
3. In Russia, it seems to me, few people are concerned about torture – people think ‘that’s just how it should be’, or ‘they deserve it, and that’s all there is to it.’ How do you explain the rather high tolerance for violence in Russia?
4. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, has the Russian public’s attitude to torture changed? Has it become better, worse, or have moral and ethical guidelines shifted in general?
5. Previously, in such situations it was common to appeal to the ECtHR, but in 2022 the Russian Federation withdrew from the jurisdiction of the European Court. What tools are now left for Russian human rights defenders to seek justice?
6. I read somewhere that you have said that “all wars end in a resolution of peace.” In your opinion, will Russia’s war against Ukraine also end through peace negotiations? With the intervention of international forums, or do the warring parties no longer have confidence in them?  
7. What is it like for you and other human rights defenders to work under current conditions?
8. Since the spring of 2022, when the register of foreign agents is updated every Friday, have many of your colleagues left the country or given up their human rights practice?
9. How does the ‘foreign agent’ label affect your professional work. And can you explain what is an “undesirable organisation”?
10. Have you ever received any threats yourself? Or have there been administrative cases initiated against you?
11. What is meant by the word “torture” and what should a person do if they find themselves in a situation where, in their opinion, they are being subjected to torture? And what if they are exposed  to torture in detention? What should they do then?
12. Is there such a thing as psychological torture? Have you experienced it yourself in your work as a human rights defender?
13. Can such a term be applied to what happened to your fellow resident of Nizhny Novgorod, Irina Slavina, who committed suicide in the most horrible way in front of the Interior Ministry building in the city centre in 2020?
14. You said somewhere that ‘even if a person is not themselves directly involved in torture, they could still be party to the system of violence.’ Can you elaborate? 
15. What does the police treatment of suspects in the terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall in March this year tell us about today’s Russia?
16. In Russia now everyone is living with uncertainty. What options for the future of your work do you see?
17. Can you imagine ever being forced to give up your work – that the screws will be tightened to such an extent that it will be impossible to work in the field of human rights in Russia?

This week our guest is Sergei Ivanovich Belyaev, president of the Ekaterinburg human rights organisation, Sutyazhnik. Sutyazhnik, one of the most important human rights organisations in the Urals Federal District, was founded in 1994. Sergei Belyaev became president of the organisation in 2002.

The questions we discuss in this podcast include: the history and work of the human rights organization Sutyazhnik; the legislation on so-called “foreign agents”; civil society in Ekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk region; the role of the human rights commissioner in Sverdlovsk region; the activities of the Yeltsin Centre; and the future of human rights in Russia.

This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to the podcast on Rights in Russia, SoundCloud,  Spotify  and  iTunes.  The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: Ekaterinburg is the third most populous city in Russia. Besides that, the city is known for the remarkable human rights activists who live and work there. Among them is Sergei Belyaev, president of the human rights organisation Sutyazhnik. In our podcast Sergei talks about how the authorities put obstacles in their way from the very beginning. During their first attempt to register an association in Ekaterinburg back in 1994, the request of the human rights activists was turned down on the grounds that the authorities did not like the name. Although dictionaries explain that a Sutyazhnik is someone who is ready to sue for any reason, the negative connotation of the word is far-fetched. The activists filed a lawsuit against the denial of registration for Sutyazhnik and the registration authority quickly relented without waiting for a trial. “What’s wrong with the name? Someone likes to settle disputes in court,” says Sergei Belyaev, “He likes to do that, he takes pleasure in it.” And in fact – there’s nothing wrong with that! A lot has changed since 1994 in the country and in Ekaterinburg. But Sutyazhnik, which was branded a foreign agent in 2015, still lives and works.

Today is a special day: 10 December - Human Rights Day, and our best wishes to all who are listening! This week our guest on the podcast is Sergei Anatolievich Pashin, a retired Russian federal judge, Honoured Lawyer of the Russian Federation and a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group. 

The topics discussed on the podcast include the reform of the justice system in Russia, trial by jury, and whether there is a fair judicial system in the country. 

The questions we ask include:

1) Is the judiciary an independent and autonomous branch of state power in Russia? To what extent did the judicial reforms of the nineties achieve their goals?

2) Is it likely that with a critical mass of unjust verdicts, society will explode? Or will irregularities and violations always be tolerated?

3) You were one of those who initiated and supported the introduction of jury trials. What has been the fate of its enforcement?

4) Recently the head of the Investigative Committee Aleksandr Bastrykin, speaking at Moscow Legal Week said: "From the idea of 'the individual as the highest value, which has above all rights', we should return to the classical understanding of the individual as the subject of a set of rights and duties. Why is there such a stress on duties all the time?

5) What are the prospects for fair justice in the Russian Federation?

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website or on SoundCloud, Podcasts.com, Spotify, iTunes and Anchor.  The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: “In many respects, the fairness of the justice system is a private matter, a matter of individual decent judges, decent investigators (there are such investigators, I knew them), and decent policemen (there are such people, too). That is, in any system there are decent people. But it is another thing that they can be discouraged from practicing justice,” said Sergei Anatolievich Pashin. About this, and much more, Simon Cosgrove and I talked with Sergei Pashin in our podcast. We were very lucky that Sergei Pashin was able to give an hour of his time to talk to us. Everyone knows that Pashin is a retired federal judge, one of the initiators of jury trials in Russia, an Honoured Lawyer of the Russian Federation, a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG), author of the 1991 Constitutional Court Act, and a very busy man. Since 2008, Pashin has been teaching at the Law Department of the Higher School of Economics. Or rather, alas, it’s now necessary to say – was teaching. At the end of November 2021 Pashin suddenly received notice of dismissal and from 24 December he will cease to be an employee of this educational institution: the university terminated contracts with two professors of the Faculty of Law - Sergei Pashin and Gennady Esakov. From 2011 to 2021 the students of the HSE recognized Sergei Pashin every year as the best lecturer - and deservedly so. It was extremely interesting talking with Sergei Anatolievich, as you can judge for yourself. 

Simon Cosgrove adds: ‘For further information about the past week in Russia, visit our website here.’

This week our guest on the podcast is Irina Vladimirovna Kosterina. Irina Kosterina is Programme Coordinator of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Russia, a sociologist and gender researcher, trainer and organiser of rehabilitation retreats for activists, human rights activists, journalists and NGO workers.

The questions we discuss on the podcast include: what is the Heinrich Böll Foundation and what are the programmes of its Moscow branch; the Femfest which took place in Moscow in November 2020; the meaning of “Gender Democracy”; how Russian society feels about the idea of equal rights for men and women; the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church on attituded to gender equality; the difference in attitudes and evaluation of the idea of gender equality between Russians and the peoples of the Caucasian republics; the Böll Foundation’s studies on the role of gender in four Caucasian republics; the Foundation’s new project in Russia on overcoming and preventing burnout, stress and fatigue among NGO employees, activists, human rights defenders and journalists; what the future of the human rights movement in Russia holds

This podcast is in the Russian language. As well as on the Rights in Russia website, you can also listen to the podcast on SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes. The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook:  Irina Kosterina is a sociologist, gender researcher, and programme coordinator of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Moscow. Simon Cosgrove and I talked to Irina about many things: feminism, the recent Femfest 2020, the “traditional values” of the state, the role of men and women in the Caucasian republics, the burnout of people working in NGOs, and much more. For me, this was a continuation of a conversation we had started last August, when Irina stopped by for a visit and I treated her to my kari and showed her our local area. Speaking of feminism, Irina shared with us a recent story about how people concerned about “traditional culture” crashed the streaming of Femfest 2020 – it’s not clear whether out of their own enthusiasm or for money – which made it necessary to limit entry to the online event to those who registered. Although the word “feminism” often provokes an inadequate and aggressive reaction from a certain category of people, ideas of equality and justice are slowly gaining popularity, as Irina Kosterina discussed in our podcast.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here.

Our guest this week on the podcast is Andreas Umland, a political scientist and an expert in modern Russian and Ukrainian history and politics. He lives in Kiev and teaches at the National University of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Andreas is a senior expert at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future in Kyiv and a research fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Relations in Stockholm. He has written extensively on the development of post-Soviet countries, including on the extreme right and on nationalism.

The topics we discuss include: the relationship between Russia and Ukraine, the situation on the borders, the threat of a Russian invasion, how decisions are made in Russia, reactions in Ukraine and the West, and what is to come.

The questions we put to Andreas Umland include:

1) What is the current situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border and on the Belarusian-Ukrainian border?

2) What is the motivation for the concentration of Russian troops?

3) What is the purpose of the "negotiations"?

4) What is the decision-making process inside Russia?

5) Are there divisions within the Russian elite?

6) What is Russian public opinion and does it play a role?

7) What reactions are there in Ukraine to what is happening?

8) How is the West reacting?

9) What do you think will happen next in the short term? And what will happen in the long term?

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website, SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: Simon Cosgrove and I spent an hour in an interesting conversation with Andreas Umland, a political scientist who studies modern Russian and Ukrainian history and lives in Kyiv and who has a very interesting perspective on today’s situation. “I think February will be a tense month,” Andreas says. “The Olympics are coming to an end, and these exercises that Russia is holding in Belarus – by the end of February it will be clear whether there will be a military escalation or not. I hope not.” Speaking about the future, Andreas says: “Ukraine’s domestic and foreign policy will remain the same in the future regardless of whether Zelensky is re-elected or not, whether Poroshenko returns, or maybe Klitschko becomes president. Personalities may change, but the direction of policy will not change. In Russia it is rather the opposite. If personalities change there, the whole regime could change. It may, by the way, change for the worse. Anything is possible there, from fascism to liberalism.” Andreas Umland lives in Kiev and teaches at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Andreas has written extensively on the development of post-Soviet countries, including articles on the extreme right and nationalism.

This week on the podcast we discuss the current situation around Memorial and the moves by prosecutors to close down two organisations: the International Memorial Society and Memorial Human Rights Centre. Our guests on the podcast are Sergei Davidis and Jens Siegert. Sergei Davidis is head of the programme in support of political prisoners at the Memorial Human Rights Centre, an organisation of which he is also a board member. Jens Siegert is a German journalist, writer, and political scientist who has lived in Moscow for many years, was formerly head of the Böll Foundation office in Russia, and is a great friend and supporter of International Memorial.

The questions discussed in the podcast include:

What has happened? The International Memorial Society received two notices. The General Prosecutor's Office has filed a lawsuit to liquidate International Memorial, and the Moscow prosecutor's office is demanding that the Memorial Human Rights Centre also be closed down. Why such a ‘division of labour’ among prosecutors and why now? And what will happen to the regional branches of Memorial?

Just recently a group of people broke into the Memorial during a showing of a film about the Holodomor, then the police came, and the police searched Memorial’s premises and confiscated some of its equipment! Is there a connection between the events of October 14 (invasion + police) and November 11 (Supreme Court notice)?

How has the public in Russia and the international community reacted? Germany is said to have a special relationship with Memorial - what is the reaction there?

What is the significance of this attack on Russia's most prominent human rights organization?

What is the prognosis? What will happen to Memorial? What will happen to the human rights movement in Russia?

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website or on SoundCloud, Podcasts.com, Spotify, iTunes and Anchor.  The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: "The scale and intensity of recent repression is so great that each new episode of repression competes for public attention," Sergei Davidis told us during the podcast. "Each of these events individually should be enough to outrage society. But when several such events happen on the same day, society simply does not have the strength and resources to react. It should be remembered that the possibility of street protests due to coronavirus bans is also ruled out. Nevertheless, many people have spoken out. On the level of public statements, support is strong." As well as Sergei, Jens Siegert also took part in the podcast. He told us that at first in Germany the news about the prosecutors' moves against Memorial were a big shock. "Few people thought the wave of repression that has been going on in Russia for a year now could reach organizations like International Memorial. It's too big an organization, too important. Many people thought they would probably not touch it. We see a lot of solidarity with Memorial, and I think it will continue to grow. There were protests in front of the Russian embassy in Germany and there will be more. People who are not indifferent see this attack on Memorial as the return of the Chekist state." Sergei Davidis said: "We will fight to the last." I'm sure that many, many people will sign up to these words.

Simon Cosgrove adds: ‘For further information about the past week in Russia, visit our website here.

This week our guest on the podcast is Konstantin Aleksandrovich Kotov, a Russian computer programmer and civil society activist. In 2019 Konstantin Kotov was the second person to be convicted under the so-called ‘Dadin’ Article 212.1 that was added to the Russian Criminal Code in July 2014 – ‘Repeated violation of the established procedure for organizing or holding a meeting, rally, demonstration, march, or picket.’

The topics of our conversation include: the Russian judicial and penitentiary systems, and the current state of human rights in Russia.

The questions we are discuss are:

Why did you become a civic activist?

How unexpected was your arrest, prosecution and imprisonment in 2019? How did you feel at the time?

Your arrest and sentence caused a great public outcry. What did this support mean to you?

You and the defendant in the New Greatness case, Anna Pavlikova, were married in the building of the Matrosskaya Tishina detention centre where you were held. How did this happen?

On 20 April 2020, Moscow City Court reduced your sentence from four years in prison to one year and six months. Through all this time how did you see the work of the Russian legal system, including the President’s intervention?

What has been your experience of the Russian penitentiary system?

How do you assess the current situation in Russia in terms of human rights?

What needs to be done to improve the human rights situation in the country? What is the role of civil society and civic activists?

What are the prospects for the development of human rights protection in Russia?

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: 

“It probably started with the protest on Bolotnaya Square. I was at Bolotnaya, I was at Sakharov Prospekt, I participated in all the peaceful protests that took place in 2011-2012 in Moscow. I had a job, I was a programmer. The turning point was 2018: Oleg Sentsov and his hunger strike. His act touched me deeply: a man risking his life to save others.”

Simon Cosgrove and I continue to record our podcasts – conversations with human rights activists, civic activists, lawyers and journalists. Yesterday our interviewee was Konstantin Kotov, the second person convicted under the so-called ‘Dadin’ Article 212.1, added to the Russian Criminal Code in July 2014. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison, but was released a year and a half later, in December 2020. The colony was the same Penal Colony in Pokrov where Aleksei Navalny is now imprisoned.

“Your day in the colony is strictly regulated: from 6 a.m., when you get up, until 10 p.m., when you go to bed, you don’t belong to yourself. “

Among other things, Konstantin talked about his experience in prison: “Apart from inspections, sweeping pathways, and other things, you are also obliged to watch TV. Moral support came from letters that I still keep. Many of them came from Amnesty International activists from abroad.”

This week our guest on the podcast is Elena Pershakova. Elena is head of the Legal Practice for Fundamental Freedoms department at the Public Verdict Foundation. She has been involved in human rights activities since 1999 and began her career in Perm. 

The questions discussed in the podcast include: freedom of conscience in Perm and in Russia (about Jehovah's Witnesses); how Russia's regions differ from one another in terms of the judicial system; the work of a human rights lawyer; Public Verdict Foundation; freedom of association in Russia; the law on 'foreign agents'; the Public Oversight Commissions; regional human rights ombudsmen; freedom of assembly in Russia; the role of the ECtHR in Russia; last year's amendments to the Constitution; Russia and the Council of Europe; the future of human rights in Russia.

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website [https://www.rightsinrussia.org/category/podcasts/] or on SoundCloud,  Spotify  and  iTunes. 

The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes: "Many years ago I questioned Sergei Borisovich Parkhomenko about his arrest outside the Moskvoretsky Court. At that time two different police officers wrote different reports on him and each said that he had detained Parkhomenko - but for different acts. Sergei Parkhomenko said he would challenge the decision in the Eurpean Court of Human Rights and that his case was being handled by Elena Pershakova, an excellent lawyer from Public Verdict Foundation, as he particularly emphasized. Six months ago, I learned that the ECtHR had found that Russia in this case had violated the rights to peaceful assembly and fair trial and ordered the Russian Federation to pay each of the detainees, including Sergei Parkhomenko, 5,000 euros in compensation. Sergei Borisovich said on this occasion: 'I would particularly like to express my gratitude and admiration for the tenacity and resolve of the lawyers Kirill Koroteev, Elena Pershakova and their colleagues who brought the case to a victorious end after all these years.' Last week Simon Cosgrove and I spoke with Lena about her work at Public Verdict, the human rights situation in Russia and in Perm, the role of the ECtHR, whether Russia will withdraw from the Council of Europe and much more. I took the opportunity to tell Lena how much I love her pictures of the Kama River from the 18th floor. Truly, Lena has many talents! "

Simon Cosgrove adds: "If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here: https//rightsinrussia.org/week-ending-14-may-2021 ."

This week, our guest is Mikhail Benyash. Mikhail Benyash is a lawyer from the city of Sochi in Krasnodar region. In September 2018 Mikhail Benyash was beaten and detained by police after a meeting with his client who was taking part in a peaceful protest in Krasnodar. The court jailed him for 14 days and in addition sentenced him to 40 hours of compulsory work for disobeying a police officer and violating the rules on public protests. Amnesty International declared Mikhail Benyash a prisoner of conscience and called for his immediate release. In 2018, Mikhail Benyash was charged under Article 318(1) of the Russian Criminal Code (“Use of violence against a public official”) and in October 2019 he was sentenced to a fine of 30,000 roubles.

Issues discussed in the podcast include: Mikhail Benyash’s criminal prosecution; cases he has worked on in recent years; factors determining the outcome of a court case; the degree of independence of the courts in Russia; specifics of the Krasnodar region; reasons why Mikhail Benyash became a lawyer and works on human rights; the role of the European Court of Human Rights; changes introduced to the Russian Constitution last year; the return of Aleksei Navalny to Russia; the future of human rights in Russia.

The podcast is in the Russian language. The podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to the podcast on Rights in Russia, SoundCloud,  Spotify  and  iTunes. The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: “In the autumn of 2018 I wrote to Boris Grebenshikov about Mikhail Benyash, the Krasnodar lawyer who was detained and beaten by police in September 2018 but released on bail a few weeks later. Mikhail’s release was helped – among other things – by the support of lawyers, the reaction of the Federal Bar Association and the fact that Amnesty International recognised him as a prisoner of conscience. Mikhail Benyash, a man of fortitude and courage, wrote to me on his release: ‘In the detention centre I often read ‘The Movement Towards Spring’ to myself. It struck me that the young BG was able to understand and feel things that only came to me in prison, and only after my second visit. If you know him, please pass these words on to him.’ I relayed Mikhail’s words to the musician. Boris Grebenshchikov answered my letter briefly but succinctly: ‘Thank you, Sergei! It’s worth a lot.’ Last Sunday, Simon Cosgrove and I spoke with Mikhail Benyash about many things: his work, Navalny flying to Moscow at that very time, the current Russian justice system, the difficult work of a human rights lawyer – in other words, about the very words of that very song by BG: ‘Some people have a tendency to sing. / Some of them to their detriment’.”

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here.

This week our guest on the podcast is Valentina Dmitrievna Melnikova. Valentina Melnikova is a Russian human rights activist and politician, a graduate of the geology department of Moscow State University and a specialist in geochemistry, but better known to us all as the executive secretary of the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia. Valentina Melnikova was one of the initiators of the Russian Research Centre for Human Rights established in 1990.

The issues discussed in the podcast include: how did a graduate of the geology department of Moscow State University became a human rights activist; the difference between the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers and the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers; cooperation between the Russian military and the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers; the notion that Committees of Soldiers' Mothers are intended to help people avoid military service; the role of Viktor Alksnis; the FSB’s recent decree on unclassified information dissemination of which can serve to designate organisations or persons as ‘foreign agents’; the human rights situation and the future of human rights in Russia.

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website or on SoundCloud,  Spotify  and  iTunes.  The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: "I became a human rights activist overnight in December 1979, when I learned from a radio broadcast that Soviet troops had entered Afghanistan. My two sons were still little but I knew a bit about history and I decided that I will never send my children to the Soviet army led by crazy old folk. Valentina Dmitrievna Melnikova told Simon Cosgrove and me how her search for like-minded people, those who cared about their sons, led her to join the Soldiers' Mothers Committee in 1989. "They were energetic women from all over the Soviet Union, they knew what they wanted, and they achieved a lot through the then deputies of the Interregional Deputies Group of the USSR Supreme Soviet. In 1998 we set up an association called the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia. Valentina Melnikova describes herself as an ‘informed optimist’ and believes that the prospects for human rights activities are not great: "Things will get tougher and tougher, more and more lawless. What is to be done about it? I don't know. I don't expect anything good. But on the other hand, all of us - Memorial Human Rights Centre, the Independent Psychiatric Association of Russia, the Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia – what can we do if people keep coming for help? So we have to work, we have to fight.”

Simon Cosgrove adds:  A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here.

This week our guest on the podcast is Elena Belokurova. Elena is a political scientist specializing in the study of civil society and a civic activist from St. Petersburg. She is the director of the organization Mosty [‘Bridges’].

The questions discussed in this podcast include: early career; the NGO Bridges; Russian civil society in the 1990s; Russian civil society under Putin; comparison of Germany and EU with Russia in terms of civil society; the EU-Russia Forum; St Petersburg; examples of successful NGOs in the city; the law on ‘foreign agents’; the law on ‘undesirable’ organisations; the future of civil society and human rights in Russia.

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website or on SoundCloud,  Spotify  and  iTunes. 

The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: "They say it is necessary to build bridges, not walls. It is something that is relevant for both politicians and civil society activists. And while domestic politicians have recently been getting away with building walls, fortunately there are people building bridges, and there are many such people. Simon Cosgrove and I spoke last week with Elena Belokurova, director of Bridges. This is a long-standing organisation, in fact, for many years based in Ligovka Street, St. Petersburg, and still there now. They used to be known under a different name, but the wall builders forced a change of name. But what these people do does not change: they build bridges of peaceful international cooperation, and these bridges will serve to develop civil societies through international exchanges. These bridges will help broaden perspectives and unleash the creativity of many people, including through international experiences. Elena Belokurova told us about the many projects, achievements of Bridges, along with some ideas and plans for the future. Bridges: International Exchanges, Cooperation, Creativity has brilliant partners in many different countries and cities. The work continues."

Simon Cosgrove adds:  A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here.

This week our guest on the podcast is Ivan Pavlov, a human rights lawyer specializing in freedom of information and treason cases. For many years, Ivan Pavlov headed the civil society group Team 29, which also worked to promote freedom of information in Russia.

The topics of our conversation today are the persecution of lawyers in Russia, the rule of law, what reforms are needed, the history of Team 29, the right of association and the future of human rights in Russia.

The questions we discuss include:

1. You are one of Ivan Safronov's lawyers. Both you and Evgeny Smirnov, another of Safronov’s lawyers, are forced to live outside Russia. Question: why exactly are these measures being taken against lawyers now?

2. Is the legal professional community able to stand up for itself?

3. Has Russia ever been a country where the rule of law existed?

4. What needs to be done to bring the country closer to the rule of law? What are the main steps that need to be taken to achieve this?

5. Can you tell us something about the history of Team 29? When was it created? What did it accomplish? Why was it shut down?

6. We are all following the Memorial case. One gets the impression the Russian authorities today do not want any independent civil society organizations to exist. What are the consequences of this policy for Russia? What is a country without civil society?

7. Realistically speaking, what are the prospects for fair trial in the Russian Federation?

8. What prospects are there for human rights in general? Are you an optimist or a pessimist?

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website or on SoundCloud, Podcasts.com, Spotify, iTunes and Anchor.  The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: "I remember well the 1990s when we crossed a certain threshold, everyone more or less attained a degree of material well-being and began to think about having some rights, about restoring democratic values in the country. I saw that the judicial system was developing, there were some hopes. This trend lasted until about 2004 or 2005, but then developments took a rather different direction. Every person looks for some stability in their life, something on which to base their decisions. In a society governed by the rule of law, that stable basis is the law. A state where there is the rule of law is considered the most stable. But if the law is not stable, and the only ‘stability’ is that a single person has been in power for a long time, it becomes easier for people to look for the signals that come from that one person rather than to the law, which is one thing today and another tomorrow. Officials today are not guided by the law, but by signals that come from that one person. The ability to change by democratic means those in power ensures the quality of life in a democracy." This is what the human rights lawyer Ivan Pavlov, who specializes in freedom of information and treason cases, told us. For several years, Ivan was the head of Team 29, an informal association of lawyers and journalists that fought the growing lack of transparency of the state in Russia. I vividly remember that in Soviet times, wherever I went to apply for a job, the hiring process necessarily included a visit to the First Department, a room with an iron door, where - as a rule - some retired man with a crazy look was sitting. These First Departments actually embodied the closed nature of the state, the total control over everything: why the hell do you need the First Department in the offices of a building restoration organisation where I worked in my youth? Ivan Pavlov in our conversation mentioned his team's new project, which he called the First Department. On Monday, he told a wider audience: "The First Department of the state bodies was engaged in the classification of documents and protection of state secrets. Often what was going on behind closed doors in the First Departments had little to do with the law and was simply arbitrary. Our First Department will fight to ensure that employees of all first departments throughout the country comply with the law, so that they do not violate your rights." Listen to our conversation with Ivan Pavlov, who temporarily left Russia but continues to do his fantastic work.

Simon Cosgrove adds: ‘For further information about the past week in Russia, visit our website here.’

This week our guest on the podcast is Yulia Fedotova, a lawyer with a PhD in law from the city of Ekaterinburg.

The issues discussed in the podcast include: the legal profession; legal specialization; the Russian judicial system; successful legal cases; major human rights problems in Russia today; the role of the European Court of Human Rights; the recent constitutional amendments; Russia and the Council of Europe; and the future of human rights in Russia.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: "Since childhood I was attracted to the criminal law, and I actually wanted to become a police investigator. But I couldn't accept a compromise with my conscience, work from 9 am for as long as they wanted and obey orders. So after an internship I changed my plans: I became a lawyer. A human rights lawyer." - these are the words of our interviewee this week, Yulia Fedotova, a lawyer with a PhD in law from the city of Ekaterinburg. In addition to her work in the capital of the Urals federal district, Yulia manages to work in Krasnodar region. In our conversation she interestingly compares the state of justice in these two regions, figuratively describing the law enforcement system of the sunny southern region as "like a big ball of snakes kissing." Her words are confirmed by two incidents when courts in Krasnodar tried to frame Yulia herself as a member of an organization the Russian authorities have been coquettishly calling "undesirable.' Yulia has filed fifty-three applications to the European Court of Human Rights (of which the court deemed 17 inadmissible, but accepted the rest) and has won many cases in the domestic courts. Fedotova is sharp-tongued, saying that a lawyer in today's Russia could be compared to someone diving to the depths of the Marianna Trench with a broken aqua-lung in bloody faeces. Simon Cosgrove and I listened with great interest to Yulia, and you can hear her stories, including how a nine-day sentence for Evgeny Roizman turned into one day thanks to the efforts of our interviewee."

Simon Cosgrove adds: "If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website https://rightsinrussia.org/week-ending-18-june-2021."

This week our guest on the podcast is Lev Markovich Shlosberg. Lev Markovich is a Russian politician, a civil society and human rights activist, and a journalist. He is chair of Yabloko’s Pskov regional branch, a member of Yabloko’s federal political committee and a deputy of Pskov regional legislative assembly from the Yabloko party. The issues we discuss in the podcast include: Shlosberg’s first job as a teacher in a school for young offenders; the creation of the Revival [Vozrozhdenie] Centre for Social Design; the development of civic organizations in the 1990s; the foundation of the newspaper Pskov Gubernia; freedom of speech and the state of civil society in Russia; the case of Pskov journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva and the use of the law on ‘foreign agents’ against Radio Liberty journalist Liudmila Savitskaya and Denis Kamalyagin, editor-in-chief of Pskov Gubernia; politics in today’s Russia; the Navalny phenomenon; the history of human rights and civil society; and the future of democracy in Russia. The podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to the podcast on Rights in Russia (https://www.rightsinrussia.org/podcast-7/), SoundCloud,  Spotify  and  iTunes.  The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook:  Two anti-Soviet wall newspapers at the Pskov Pedagogical Institute made by history student Lev Shlosberg and his comrade in 1981, taken down on the orders of the dean of the history department; work at the Sebezh special vocational school for young offenders, service in the Soviet army; creation of the Revival Centre for Social Design; establishment of Pskov Free University and a psychological assistance telephone hotline; creation of the Pskovskaya Gubernia newspaper. Lev Markovich has achieved a great deal, and there was a lot to talk about on our podcast. Today, Lev Shlosberg is a well-known politician and he rightly told us that ‘when state policy is so repressive, the very act of entering politics as a member of the opposition – rather than supporting the government – entails enormous risks. As the saying goes, you’re lucky if they don’t kill you.’ We talked about Svetlana Prokopyeva, Anastasia Shevchenko, Liudmila Savitskaya, and Denis Kamalyagin, editor-in-chief of Pskov Gubernia. It is surprising that 40% of the foreign agents, according to the Ministry of Justice, are from Pskov Gubernia! We also talked about Aleksei Navalny, whom Lev Markovich described as ‘simultaneously the personal prisoner and hostage of Vladimir Putin.’ However, Lev Markovich refuses to abandon all hope: ‘History never gives final answers – and therein lies our chance,’ he said.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here.

This week our guest on the podcast is Sergei Golubok, a lawyer [advokat] from St. Petersburg. The topics we discuss on the podcast include: how to become a lawyer; lawyers and human rights; the rule of law; the European Court of Human Rights; conflicts between national and international law; impact of the reforms of the 1990s on the Russian legal system; the significance of the constitutional amendments introduced last year; reform of the Constitutional Court; the future of the Russian legal system and human rights in the Russian Federation.

The podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on Rights in Russia [https://rightsinrussia.org/podcasts/], SoundCloud,  Spotify  and  iTunes. The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: A lawyer [advokat] should be a human rights defender by virtue of his work. And the hallmark of a lawyer [advokat] is that they don’t have a boss, they have clients. Our guest on the podcast this week, the lawyer Sergei Golubok, has a wealth of experience, including with bosses. Today Sergei is a member of the St Petersburg Bar Association and someone well known in the human rights world. Simon Cosgrove and I had time to discuss a great deal with our Sunday guest and are happy to share what Sergei told us. We discussed – and not without reference to events today – why there are regimes that do not live up to the obligations they took upon themselves. “Human rights treaties – unlike ordinary treaties – create a web of obligations rather than bilateral relations. And so regimes like Erdogan’s or Putin’s don’t really understand such obligations – why they should be implemented,” says Sergei Golubok, and adds: “This is a short-sighted point of view, because there are some things more important than momentary gain.” One of the biggest questions facing the Council of Europe today is what to do when Russia, along with a number of other countries, ignores ECtHR judgments. After all, there are no international riot police and no ECtHR bailiffs either. “I believe that the right thing to do in this situation would be to expel Russia from the Council of Europe. This would, in the first place, protect the Council of Europe itself. However, the Council of Europe has taken a different path, that of endless negotiations. It is the wrong approach, and the policy of appeasement of the 1930s is proof of that. It is not a solution to the problem, but an aggravation. Exclusion is the only legal remedy that can be applied”. We recommend listening to what Sergei Golubok has to say.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here.

Our guest this week on the podcast is Grigory Melkonyants. Grigory Melkonyants is a Russian human rights activist, lawyer and co-chair of Golos, the movement to protect voters' rights. This week’s topics are freedom of association in Russia, the law on foreign agents, the significance of the attack on the Memorial Society and whether free and fair elections are possible in the country.

The questions discussed in the podcast include the following: designation of Golos as a ‘foreign agent’; the imposition of ‘individual media foreign agent status’ on Golos associates; the quality of electoral law and practice in Russia; the attacks on Memorial; why these attacks have happened now; plans for a civil society conference; the future of human rights in Russia.

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website or on SoundCloud, Podcasts.com, Spotify, iTunes and Anchor.  The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook:  “Democrat Steve Cohen, co-chairman of the Helsinki Commission, and Republican Joe Wilson, member of the Helsinki Commission, submitted a draft resolution to the U.S. Congress on November 18 this year, one paragraph of which reads: “According to the Russian non-governmental organization Golos and independent electoral analysts, approximately 27,000,000 votes, accounting for 37 percent of the official total, were fraudulent, making the plebiscite the most manipulated vote in the modern history of the Russian Federation.” Golos for Fair Elections, a meticulous and professional organization, has long annoyed lovers of fraud: it is not without reason that many believed that Sidankin’s ‘law’ on ‘foreign agents’ was concocted in the first place to kill off Golos. In April 2013 the Russian authorities labeled the organization a ‘foreign agent’, and in 2016 they ‘liquidated’ it. But Golos’s voice cannot be killled off or ‘liquidated.’ Golos still found a way to continue its work, after which officials designated them twice more as agents, creating another registry of ‘foreign spies’ in which the Golos movement was the first to be entered. The recent stunt with the branding of the organisation Fair Elections also tells much about the implacable Russian authorities, who are trying to undermine all those who work to protect the rights of voters, who help Russian citizens participate in independent election monitoring. After all, the bearer of sovereignty and the only source of power in Russia is its people. I am a huge admirer of these brave people, and Simon Cosgrove and I were lucky to have the opportunity to speak with Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Golos.”

Simon Cosgrove adds: ‘For further information about the past week in Russia, visit our website here.