The Murder Investigations = Total Failure

Lavrenti Beriya (1899–1953). Originally Georgian. At the highest times of his glory Stalin's right hand, head of the KGB. After getting rid of his predecessor Yezhov (killing him in Lubyanka, the KGB prison in Moscow), Beriya was responsible for the deportations from the Baltic states, among other things.

Politkovskaya's assassination is still badly investigated and therefore, of course, the murderer unpunished.

But, like almost everybody who have been following this, I am very sure the murderer has been indentified by both the Kremlin and the KGB.

According to the rumours I have heard a number of times, the guy in the baseball cap, the one who really pulled the trigger, has been living in Belgium for quite some time already.

Oh sorry comrades, the agency is FSB nowadays.


Statement issued by Russian Union of Journalists

Monday, 23 February 2009

The trial of those involved in the murder of Novaya gazeta commentator Anna Politkovskaya has ended in total failure. The jury unanimously acquitted all the accused and they were freed right there in the courtroom.

Despite everything, the hearings were made open to the media and public and once again this gave us vivid evidence of the defects of our law enforcement system, which requires urgent reform. And still we can see one positive outcome. It did not prove possible, by convicting minor figures, to evade the most important question: Who ordered the killing of our comrade and colleague, and why did they do so.

The investigation will be renewed and so it is of fundamental importance that all those who obstructed the investigators in their work, shielding the guilty and concealing vital information, are named without delay. The Russian authorities must realise that it is essential that they display political will. The collapse of such a trial is a national disgrace and they will not be able to shift the blame to the investigators, who did not do their job, still less to the jurors.

Kids Snooping in Russia

Another Russian revealing dirty secrets believed to be in danger is Anna Bukovskaya.

I have met several activists of "The Other Russia", the political opposition, and they have all said they phone calls are being listened to, and they are being followed. But I have not realised also kids can act as agents.

Nashi Activist Tells of Snooping for Kremlin

06 February 2009 By Natalya Krainova / Staff Writer

Undercover pro-Kremlin agents have worked in opposition groups across Russia to provide the presidential administration with information on opposition activists and rallies, a self-described handler said Thursday.

Anna Bukovskaya, a St. Petersburg activist with the pro-Kremlin Nashi youth group, said she coordinated a group of 30 young people who infiltrated branches of the banned National Bolshevik Party, Youth Yabloko and United Civil Front in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh and six other cities.

The agents informed Bukovskaya, who passed the information to senior Nashi official Dmitry Golubyatnikov, who in turn contacted "Surkov's people" in the Kremlin, Bukovskaya told The Moscow Times. Vladislav Surkov is President Dmitry Medvedev's first deputy chief of staff.

The agents provided information on planned and past events together with pictures and personal information on activists and leaders, including their contact numbers, Bukovskaya said by telephone from St. Petersburg.

They were paid 20,000 rubles ($550) per month, while she received 40,000 rubles per month, she said.


The story as whole is in here, in the Moscow Times website.

Changes with Music

München (Munich)


Obama has certainly started with Big Changes. And Joe Biden, now travelling in Munich, is seemingly backing up the President and moving forward with the new American agenda. According to a news release from Russia, "European media reported that Biden may voice Obama’s idea on a radical – up to 80% – slashing of U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals." Gosh.

Many are still sceptical, of course, wondering if Obama can really change things -- will he be able to, is he a puppet or with a mind of his own? And so on.

It is too early to have all the answers, and even I am not naive enough to think every example of the ignorant Bush administration could change for the better at once. For example, the USA seems to be willing to make NATO even stonger and more powerful, and the talks about the threats of terrorism are very much alive - and I find the both of these things quite strange.

But after the latest news on Obama's actions, I'd judge a lot is changing, and the changes have been good.

* * * *

By the way, I rarely recommend this news agency, but now I make an exception, since that was here in the ITAR-TASS site. Putin, be aware!

* * * * *

At the end of his speech Biden whacked Russia, and then with diplomacy he softened the statement:

"We will not agree with Russia on everything. For example, the United States will not -- will not recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. We will not recognize any nation having a sphere of influence. It will remain our view that sovereign states have the right to make their own decisions and choose their own alliances. But the United States and Russia can disagree and still work together where our interests coincide. And they coincide in many places."

And not agreeing with Russia is a good start.

* * * * *



For all the music lovers, here comes the Bush speech once again.

Remember when he said the fact that there was no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has been "a significant disappointment"?

I still find it hard to understand how stupid that man has been. As well as the ones who voted for him.

"She Is Still With Us"

Sorry for silence. Miss Funnybunny accidentally broke my laptop, and I have been far too busy to write this at work. (The insurance will cover a new one - I have just beeen to busy to buy the new one!)

But no time for silence. Today is marked as the second anniversary of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. Therefore I must publish the following reminder written by my dear friend Oksana Chelysheva.

* * * *

On the second anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya's murder I feel like speaking up on those who are still alive. This year I felt more inclined to commemorate her on her birthday and to raise other people's fates on her death day.
Anna Politkovskaya is one of them as here assassins fail to erase her voice, her views and her deeds as well as her charm from her friends' memory.

For me personally Anna is one of those few who will never cease to exist. She is still alive as she is with us in her articles, in her small granddaughter who was named after her. Even the hatred of those who are hiding their shadows behind statements on Anna's "insignificance" and "damaging Putin's Russia's positive image" can't destroy the voice of Anna.
At the same time, I can't accept this kind of post-mortal symbolism of the person who often felt too lonely and even marginalized being called "too passionate", "too radical", "too much involved" and not very "diplomatic" unlike a huge crowd of those who prefer to balance the circumstances rather than call on their changing.
She was often listened to without being heard. And it is also the responsibility of those who could have done a lot more to stop Russia's sliding first to autocracy and now to despotism by just calling the developments in Putin's Russia by their real names…

Anna wanted to live, to enjoy life as fully as such a bright person could, to continue her often desperate attempts to help out those who didn't have public recognition of the level she had.

Their number is increasing rapidly. More and more people are being killed without any hope that their deaths would be ever investigated and the guilty would be ever brought to account. People are being taken into custody under falsified charges. They are more and more often subjected to enforced psychiatric treatment. They are being labeled as supporters of terrorism and traitors of Russian like it happened to terrorism survivors from the Voice of Beslan and Nord-Ost public associations.

Magomed Evloev, the owner of an independent Ingush website, was killed while in police custody on 31 August 2008. The murder is crying for impartial investigation, to ensure that the circumstances under which he died are brought to light and that those who are responsible for his death are charged and tried in accordance with the law. Nevertheless, the outrageous extrajudicial execution perpetrated at day light is declared to be "a death caused by accident". On October 6, life of another Ingush opposition leader was attempted. The car in which Akhmed Kotiev was driving was fired at. Fortunately, the bullets have missed this time.

On 25 July 2008, human rights defender Zurab Tsechoev, working for the human rights organization MASHR (peace) in Ingushetia, was taken away from his home in Troitskaia, Ingushetia by armed men, thought to be federal law enforcement officials. A couple of hours later he was found on a roadside near Magas, the capital of Ingushetia, with serious injuries. He had to be hospitalized. Is there any hope that the perpetrators of this act against Zurab Tsechoev would be ever identified and brought to justice? Much depends on what kind of response the authorities of Russia will get from the international community and whether this response would be limited to some mild rhetoric and expressions of concerns.

Late on 1 August 2008, an arson attack was allegedly made on the flat of human rights defender Dmitrii Kraiukhin from the town of Orel in the Central Russian Federal District. The arsonists had also allegedly tried to block the entrance door. Luckily, Dmitrii Kraiukhin was reportedly not in the flat, but his relatives who were, were able to alert the fire brigade in time. So far, to Amnesty International's knowledge, no criminal investigation into this case has been undertaken, as the authorities allegedly considered the damage too insignificant to warrant a criminal investigation. However, this is not an isolated incident as far as threats to Dmitrii Kraiukhin are concerned.

On 14 August 2008, unknown assailants threw a brick through the window of the flat in Nizhnii Novgorod where human rights activist Stanislav Dmitrievskii lives. Luckily, nobody was hurt. At the same time, the entrance of his apartment building was covered with abusive language and threats against Stanislav Dmitrievskii. Actually, it was all painted with swastikas. A criminal investigation into this attack has been opened. However, I don't believe that it would bring any results. There have been several cases initiated into death threats that both Stanislav and I have received in the last three years. All to no avail. I have heard various investigators telling me, "You do understand… the circumstances. We would not be able to identify those who are behind the threats".

They won't be able because they don't want to. Because they are afraid to get their own voice. Because they are not masters of themselves, in their words. Because they are ready to implement whatever kind of order as they are just loyal serfs of their master.

And it is in your hands to influence them. They should be under moral pressure from all people of good will. They should know that they will never be accepted and welcome outside Russia for their readiness and willingness to be on orders.

They should know that even their property bought in Finland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Montenegro or Czech Republic and Slovakia would not make them your neighbors. They should know that not everything could be purchased, no matter how wealthy they are. They should be aware that you have honour and dignity and that you are ready to stand up for them. They should be denounced and put to shame.

Oksana Chelysheva

Footage: Yevloev speaking. Suomenlinna, Helsinki, 2008.

Magomed Yevloev, the Ingushetian lawyer who fought for constitutional rights for his people, was killed yesterday in Nazran by the local police forces.

He visited Suomenlinna, Helsinki last summer. Please see the footage on You Tube, linked also here.

Statement on Yevloev

Statement on the killing of Magomed Yevloev

Finnish-Russian Civic Forum, 31.08.2008

The Finnish-Russian Civic Forum is shocked to hear about the killing today of Magomed Yevloev, the publisher of the Ingushetiya.ru website.
Yevloev's main contribution was to defend legality and the constitutional rights of all citizens of his republic. He stood away from the wave of violence raging in Ingushetiya. He was a man of peace in a region plagued by relentless and uncontrollable conflict.

Yevloev did not consider himself a dissident but said that it was only his duty to report events as truthfully as possible. Due to his extraordinary courage, Ingushetians were able to tell the world how flawed the election to the Russian State Duma in Ingushetiya had been.

We remember Magomed Yevloev as a friend after he participated in the second Finnish-Russian Civic Forum in Helsinki in June 2008, speaking to the public and the press about the problems of censorship in today's Russia.

We send our most heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of
Magomed Yevloev.

Helsinki, 31 August 2008

Finnish-Russian Civic Forum

Magomed Yevloev dead

According to the information I have recently received, Magomed Yevloev was killed this morning in Nazran, Ingushetia. Yevloev was a lawyer and publisher of the website "ingushetia.ru".

Yevloev was detained by the police at the airport in Nazran, and he was later delivered to the hospital - again by the police, it seems - where a wound in his head resulted to his death. According to the hospital he had been shot.

Mr. Yevloev visited us, the FinRosForum meeting last summer in Suomenlinna (Sveaborg), Helsinki. I will add a quote from him into IStori soon after I have watched his speech with my fellow Forum guys. EDIT: the footage is here.

Please see the Kasparov website for the news (in Russian).

* * * * *


This little princess is Anna Stepanovna Mazepa (later: Mrs Politkovskaya), age four, in New York where his father was an ambassador of the CCCP.

Yesterday it would have been Anna's 50th birthday.

Yes they can nominate him!

I have a dream! Even though I am not a Finnish Social Democrat, well-known for their new campaign made out of wishes that must come true if they are to continue among the hard-core achievers in the Finnish politics.

A Historic Moment. I can feel the winds of change.

Reuters today, in the Independent:

To shouts of "Yes we can," Democrats nominated Barack Obama yesterday as their presidential candidate in a historic first for a black American.

The following points belong to Obama's goals (quoted from his website, under the title of Foreign Policy):

# Strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: Obama will crack down on nuclear proliferation by strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty so that countries like North Korea and Iran that break the rules will automatically face strong international sanctions.

# Toward a Nuclear Free World: Obama will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons, and pursue it. Obama will always maintain a strong deterrent as long as nuclear weapons exist. But he will take several steps down the long road toward eliminating nuclear weapons. He will stop the development of new nuclear weapons; work with Russia to take U.S. and Russian ballistic missiles off hair trigger alert; seek dramatic reductions in U.S. and Russian stockpiles of nuclear weapons and material; and set a goal to expand the U.S.-Russian ban on intermediate-range missiles so that the agreement is global.

I wonder how Russia will take all this. I wonder. A black candidate reducing nuclear stockpiles. The Nashi kids must be dumbfounded, too.

I am afraid the Cold War is alive and well, and it is the Eastern block strenghtening it, this time.

A missile seeking sunshine in its silo.

Strange Assault In Nizhny Novgorod. Stanislav Dimitrievsky targeted again.

Dear Readers

The Following has been was sent to me by Oksana Chelysheva, a Russian journalist and Human Rights specialist. She is currently living in Helsinki under the Writer in Exile program of the Finnish PEN. I publish this with Chelysheva's agreement, and please feel free to quote or forward the text (or this link).

She feels safer, and so do the members of the movement in Nizhny, knowing the news on assault are actively spreading in the West.

The photo was taken by me, IStori, a year ago in Helsinki, when Dimitrievsky was visiting the Finnish Human Rights and Peace movements.

"On 14 August at 4.20 am unidentified people assaulted the flat where Stanislaw Dmitrievskiy, the chair of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, and his family live. The flat is located on the first floor of a five-storied apartment building.

Assaulters smashed the window pane of the living room with a silicate brick. The brick smashed the outside pane. The inside pane sustained the blow. Thus, the brick fell down outside the flat. The brick was painted red, with swastikas and numerous insulting and threatening graffiti.

There were the following inscriptions on the entry door, "Dmitrievskiy vermin traitor of Russia ap.24 Believe it!" Swastika followed them. There was an inscription on the kitchen window pane, "Get away!" and a swastika. The inscription on the side part of the door (next to the code key) stated, "Dmitrievskiy is a whore". There was another insulting inscription below the kitchen window on the wall of the house.

Dmitrievsky's neighbors claim that they spotted two suspicious people. They explained that they were woken up by barking of the dog that the residents of the apartment building have been taking care of. As they thought that those might be car thieves, they looked out and threatened that they would shoot at them from an air-rifle. As it was still very dark, they could discern only the silhouettes of the two people dressed in sport suit, one of them having luminescent pigment on the side stripes.

Dmitrievskiy immediately called the police. The patrol police arrived in some forty minutes and the investigators came to the site of the accident only at around 7 am. They only scraped off some paint to examine it and took the brick with them as evidence. In their words, the case will be investigated by a local policeman. The photo footage of all the inscriptions and the site was carried out by the Nijny Novgorod Committee against Torture.

We connect the assault with the coming publication of the research into the international criminal law that the staff of the organization has been working on for the last a year and a half as well as the open letter to Vladimir Lukin, the Russian ombudsman, with regard to the armed conflict with Georgia."

Oksana Chelysheva

"I am calling you, president Bush..."

The following has also been published in Herald Tribune, titled as "Confront to Kremlin".

Because this is so very important, and as I am very, very busy now with a lot of writing for my work, I just add this here.

I can't help thinking it is so sad to appeal to Bush, the great inventor and launcher of the stupidities like "the Axis Of Evil" and "War Against Terrorism", since he handed those total bullshit-like definements to Putin like gifts on a plate. Very useful for Putin's equally stupid rhetorics against Chechnya, they were.


* * * * *

(Oksana Chelysheva's text beginning from here.)

As President George W. Bush prepares to meet with President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Dimitry Medvedev in Sochi on Sunday (6 April), I hope he will remember the pledge he made in his second inaugural address in 2005. In that memorable speech, he promised that the United States would not ignore oppression and that it would stand with those who stand for liberty.

Thousands of Russians like myself have been speaking out and standing up for liberty and paying a heavy price. Some of us, like Anna Politkovskaya, have paid the ultimate price. The rest of us have suffered threats, defamation in the media, physical assault, fabricated prosecution and interference or obstruction of our work.

We hope that Bush will not excuse our oppressors, who act in the name of Putin.

There used to be a time when reforms announced in Russia promised to empower citizens and take Russia on a democratic path. Many people inside Russia and abroad wanted to believe it.

What reality do we face now? Freedom of speech in Russia has been curtailed to the size of a poppy seed. The Kremlin has allowed the existence of a few independent media outlets as a cover for its systematic destruction of free journalism. Political prisoners are becoming a common reality: Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the Yukos prisoners; scientists accused of espionage; Muslims, many of whom have been accused of supporting extremism only because they practice their religion; people in Russian cities who dare to take to the streets in hope that their voices will be heard. They are being beaten up by baton-wielding police. They are being taken into custody. They are being charged with absurd accusations of assaulting the police force. They are being subjected to enforced psychiatric treatment.

The last two election campaigns in Russia, both parliamentary and presidential, were nothing but a mockery. The main purpose of our elections has been to secure the authoritarian regime that is being created in Russia.

The situation in my home town of Nizhny Novgorod, the third biggest city in Russia, located some 300 miles from Moscow, is a perfect example of the real face of the Kremlin. It started with persecution of our small human right group, the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society that was closed down in January 2007. It continued with breaking up peaceful protests during the Marches of Dissent in March. The authorities deployed 20,000 police and military troops against an expected 2,000 protesters.

In August 2007, the police raided the offices of our new Russian organization, the Foundation to Promote Tolerance, and the Nizhny Novgorod edition of the newspaper, Novaya Gazeta and confiscated all the computers. In October 2007, they disrupted our attempt to hold a meeting in memory of Anna Politkovskaya. They even detained foreign guests who dared to come to the city.

The repression continues. On March 20, the police carried out simultaneous searches in the homes of some 20 residents of Nizhny Novgorod and the region as well as in the office of the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation to Promote Tolerance. They have again confiscated all equipment, including cell phones and DVD players, claiming that they are combating extremism.

Dozens of grave crimes against the peaceful citizens of our country have remained anonymous and unaccounted for.

We are guilty of electing a president who, in the words of a group representing the victims of the 2004 Beslan tragedy, solves his problems by using tanks, flame-throwers and gas.

But it is not our fault that the political elite of the world gives uncritical support to our president. I hope that Bush will not join them.

A few weeks ago, I was in Prague meeting with Vaclav Havel and dissidents from around the world. Havel understands that those who stand up for liberty in Putin's Russia are engaged in the same struggle as dissidents in Cuba, Burma, Iran, or North Korea, countries that Bush has found easy to criticize in public for their violations of human rights. Will he do less for us when he visits Russia?

We are committed to human rights and non-violence. We stand for liberty, but we suffer oppression from our government. Unfortunately, the Russian authorities seem determined to make an example of us, presumably to intimidate others who share our views so that they think twice before speaking out.

I am calling on you, President Bush, not to avert your eyes from the many Russian citizens in Grozny, Nasran, Beslan, Volgodonsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, Murmansk, and Saint Petersburg who feel neglected and ignored in both their protests and suffering. Please stand with us as you meet with our oppressor.

Oksana Chelysheva, a Russian journalist, is the director of the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation for the Promotion of Tolerance and a spokeswoman for the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society.

What an insult!

This is hilarious. I mentioned this the other day:

On 21 March 2008, some members of the banned National Bolshevik Party (NBP) made a snowman outside the regional prosecutor’s office in Nizhny Novgorod.



The nine opposition activists hung a sign on the snowman reading “The Biggest Extremist”.


The chief of local police came out and tore the sign, saying the opposition activists had “insulted the snowman”. The police then arrested five of the activists. Local NBP activists will file a formal complaint for unlawful detention against the chief of police.


I think it was the police who insulted the snowman, don't you agree? And soon at least prosecutors are busy with work.

According to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, Article 1,
everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels, and

Article 6.b provides that everyone has the right, individually and in association with others [...] freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Unfortunately snowmen do not have these rights – no, in Russia they certainly don't.

Snowman causing arrests in Nizhny Novgorod

Let me introduce you my pal "Frosty". I will carry him outside the Soviet Embassy tonight.


(Based on an update from Nizhny Novgorod. You can also look for more updates on the web site of Finnish-Russian Civic Forum, www.finsrosforum.fi.)

Today, on 21 March 2008, members of the banned National Bolshevik Party (NBP) made a snowman outside the regional prosecutor’s office in Nizhny Novgorod. The nine opposition activists hung a sign on the snowman reading “The Biggest Extremist”.

The chief of local police came out and tore up the sign, saying the opposition activists had “insulted the snowman”. The police then arrested five of the activists. Local NBP activists will file a formal complaint for unlawful detention against the chief of police.

Yesterday, police in Nizhny Novgorod and neighbouring Arzamas raided the homes of 17 NBP activists in connection with a criminal investigation under Article 282 (”Extremism”) of the Criminal Code. The police also raided the offices of the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation to Promote Tolerance.

Update on Nizhny. The police harassing human rights activists.

Dear Readers

The following text is an update written by Oksana Chelysheva. Please also take a look at the previous post on IStori.

More about this in Russian on the Kasparov website, kasparov.ru.


*******

This morning, on March 20, 2008, a new wave of searches were carried out by the police in Nizhny Novgorod city and Arzamas town located in the region.

The police raided the offices of the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation for the Promotion of Tolerance. Then they confiscated all the computers at the offices. Afterwards the office was closed and sealed.

The police have also confiscated a mobile phone of Stanislaw (Stas) Dmitrievsky, a member of the board of the Foundation and the chair of the Finland-registered Russian-Chechen Friendship Society.

Besides it, since early morning the investigatory committee has been conducting searches in the private flats of some other people associated with the Other Russia movement. Searches are being carried out in flats belonging to Ilya Shamazov, Yury Staroverov, Evgeniy Lygin, Elena Evdokimova, Ekaterina Bunicheva and Igor Voronin in Nizhny Novgorod, and Dmitri Iisusov and Maxim Baganov in Arzamas. These people have been active in the Other Russia movement, and in a most peaceful way. As far as I know, there has been no criminal elements whatsoever in their activities.

Shamazov, Evdokimova and Staroverov are staff members of the Foundation to Promote Tolerance. That is a Russian NGO, established to continue programs of the banned Russian-Chechen Friendship Society.

When the search in Baganov's flat was over, it became known that a criminal case has been opened under article 282.2 of the Criminal Code. Baganov has been summoned to the interrogation at 3.30 pm today. The police has confiscated his passport.

Stas Dmitrievskiy has gone to the Investigatory Committee to clarify the situation with mass searches. When I [Oksana Chelysheva, Istori reminding] managed to reach him after he returned from the regional prosecutor's office to the premises of the Nizhny Novgorod Committee against Torture, Dmitrievskiy gave the following explanation of his visit there.

According to Dmitrievsky, "the motion to search the office of the Foundation to Promote Tolerance was signed by Kozitsyn Vladimir Ivanovich, a chief investigator at the Regional Prosecutor's office. It has become known that an investigatory group has been established at the regional Prosecutor's office. All the confiscated stuff is being taken there. The staff of district prosecutors' offices is involved in these activities."

Stas Dmitrievsky discussed with Kozitsyn. In Stas's opinion, Kozitsyn was trying to pretend he didn't understand what Foundation Stas was speaking about. After long discussion with his chiefs, Kozitsyn agreed to talk to Stas. Stas feels that the prosecutor's office are aware of the likely international scandal.

The Foundation was developing the project initiated by the Russian-Chechen friendship society on application of the international law to the assessment of the war conflict in Chechnya. Kozitsyn has refused to summon Dmitrievskiy for the interrogation.

We have to remind that a number of people associated with the Other Russia in Nizhny Novgorod were interrogated as witnesses on another criminal case on alleged counterfeit software. The case was opened in October 2007 against the Foundation to Promote Tolerance, chaired by me, Oksana Chelysheva. The prosecutors also summoned former staff people who have earlier stopped working with the Foundation.

Oksana Chelysheva

And, she also added this: "we had been followed everywhere by plain-clothed policemen (up to six) for some three days. They were demonstrating their interest to our visits to banks as we had to withdraw money in cash. It is obvious that all the phones are being tapped."

Serious and frightening situation in Nizhny Novgorod

The police has raided the office of the Human rights activists in Nizny Novgorod. Again. They have also interrogated people closely or not-so-closely connected to the activists, asking questions like where do they get the money etc.

(Needless for me to say, but I will say this anyway: ALL the money – which is not much, by the way – is coming from public sources, like other NGO's.)

Edit: SUPPOSABLY some activists are detained or arrested. Difficult to say yet, as some telephones have been confiscated and many people are out of reach. Those who have reached each other are desperately looking for other colleagues and friends.

The organisations the activists and workers of which are targeted are the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation for Promoting Tolerance and Russian-Chechen Friendship Society.

Members of these organisations are scared. They are also totally unable to work, as the police has sealed the office. No-one can get in.

IStori will publish an update here, once I get more information from the spot.

Do not play with the Omon. This demonstration took pleace in Moscow. But there were marches like this in Nizhny, too. And likewise, Omon stopped everything.


Day before yesterday I asked Oksana Chelysheva, the chair of Foundation for Promoting Tolerance if she thinks Medvedev will be an easier guy compared to Putin. Vice versa, she said: "Medvedev admires Putin. And, Medvedev is even more worried about his status as a leader than Putin. So that makes him scarier. Things will get even worse."

* * * * *

To get more background information, please see the posts I have labeled under the tag "Russia".

Just thinking

According to the Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat, Ria Novosti has run a story on Putin saying "things [under Medvedev's administration] are not going to get any different" - he was referring to relations between Russia and foreign countries.

Excuse me, but how can Putin predict that? He's a fortune-teller or what. Medvedev is the president, isn't he?

Ooops, I forgot the presidency does not count if this pompous little dictator still has an office.

The Russian "elections". Food chain in Kremlin. No, sorry, in Everglades.

Medvedev and Putin are hitting the road. New positions set for new adventures.


I have been thinking about something cunning to say about the Russian elections, but so far I can't think of or find anything worth posting. Except this:

Putin goes to a restaurant with Medvedev and orders a steak. The waiter asks, "And what about the vegetable?" Putin answers, "The vegetable will have steak too."

Thanks, Time.

* * * * *

But the most interesting piece of news I have so far heard today was two predators fighting, a python and an alligator, and the snake exploded. Really.
(Just a quick teaser.)

Snake bursts after gobbling gator. The predators died in the clash.

An unusual clash between a 6-foot (1.8m) alligator and a 13-foot (3.9m) python has left two of the deadliest predators dead in Florida's swamps.

The Burmese python tried to swallow its fearsome rival whole but then exploded.

The remains of the two giant reptiles were found by astonished rangers in the Everglades National Park.

The rangers say the find suggests that non-native Burmese pythons might even challenge alligators' leading position in the food chain in the swamps.

Read the breathtaking article here on the BBC web site. Thanks, PN, for copying this link as a note in Facebook.

* * * * *

When the nature is teaching us a lesson, be quiet and learn. If Medvedev and Putin challenge each others' positions in the food chain, this might be their future, too.

(But in You Tube you can find an anaconda eating a crocodile. Über-exciting.)

"Believe me when I say to you I hope the Russians love their children too"

IStori recommends: the newest Q magazine is a "Special Collectors' Issue: 1958–2008 – 50 Years Of GREAT BRITISH MUSIC."

... and back to the USSR! The Russians, this strange, political song from the 1980's has always been considered more or less naive – and that's what it is, naive. Yep. But in the light of recent undemocratic developments in Russia pushing the federation towards even more concentrated oligarchy it might be accurate to remind the world of the fact that, yes, the Russians do love their children, too.

I just wish they loved the children at Caucasus, too.

EDIT: ... and I wish they did not start a war but respected the will of little nations instead. That would not hurt the Kosovar kids either.

And I wish they loved the Nashi kids enough to make them understand they seem more fascist themselves than the Estonians, for example, whom the youngs Putinists are accusing of such behaviour. Well, now it seems there will be no future, EDIT: or no need, for Nashi under the rule of Medvedev. But the kids have been busy this year, too. See the thoughts of Vilhelm Konnander: Vilhelm Konnander's weblog: Police crackdown on Nashi demonstration

You can also listen to the Sting song here.

Russians
by Sting

In Europe and America, there's a growing feeling of hysteria
Conditioned to respond to all the threats
In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets
Mr. Krushchev said we will bury you
I don't subscribe to this point of view
It would be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians love their children too

How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer's deadly toy
There is no monopoly in common sense
On either side of the political fence
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too

There is no historical precedent
To put the words in the mouth of the President
There's no such thing as a winnable war
It's a lie that we don't believe anymore
Mr. Reagan says we will protect you
I don't subscribe to this point of view
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too

We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
What might save us, me, and you
Is if the Russians love their children too

* * *

It's not just "Oppenheimer's deadly toy" in the USA I would be worried of. In Murmansk there is a potentially hazardous metropolis of nuclear facilities, weapons and vessels like submarines, ships and even lighthouses. So, the Russian neighbours, please love the children in the Nordic countries, too.

Did you listen to the song? Sorry, but this piece is really jamming one's mind. You'll keep humming and singing this for weeks from now on.

One of my favourite members of Royalty. Actually, my only favourite member of Royalty (Grace Kelly being dead – but Freddie Mercury wants to live forever. And he will.).

Republicans wanting a change. Troitsky came.

In every man there is a cowboy.


Republicans for Obama. See. That's so great. Like "United Mice Supporting Hungry Cats". Or perhaps "Schlager Bands For Good Music". Or "Oil Industry For Reducing the Risk Of the Climate Change". (Or... please gimme some more!)

But yet, IStori is wishing the Best Of Luck for changing the political atmosphere and environment in the USA, and for protecting the Tellus atmosphere and environment we have in common.


* * * * *

Russian rock manager, DJ, dissident, Kremlin fighter, ex-editor in chief of Playboy magazine Artemi Troitsky gave a good DJ gig in Helsinki yesterday evening. Whoaa. What a show! We were told the basics of the Soviet & Russian rock scene (there is and has been one - both under- and above the ground), and for sure, we were made to listen to some classics along with a "lecture". But that was fun!

More pics at the Rosebud site, www.rosebud.fi, or here.



* * * * *


Thanks, Ajatusten Rekolanoja for your comment, and for reminding me of Laskiainen, Shrove Tuesday. It seems to be a pancake day almost around the world, but according to the Finnish tradition we are supposed to eat buns with whipped cream and jam.

Miss Funnybunny and I will enjoy either genre of delicacies this evening.

Maybe we could try some fasting, too: no more candies before the Easter. We have had more than our share recently.

Vodka Tourists

Finnish actor and the leading man in the show, Ville Haapasalo is – where? In Helsinki, of course.


I am watching a Finnish documentary on "Vodka Tourists" (Votkaturistit), title referring to the Finns who had a habit of visiting Russia, especially St Petersburg and Viborg, for a weekend (but several times a year) in 70'–80's. And who used to consume vast amounts of vodka. This was suggesting the Finns were living under prohibition.

And they swapped a pair of pantyhose for vodka. And bought vodka. And sex. And more and more vodka.

Well, the topic was most interesting, but this doc barely scratched the surface. They could have found so much, much more...

St Pete is an endless source of good stories.

****

By the way, an interview of and article on our friend Oksana Chelysheva is in this week's Me naiset, a Finnish ladies' weekly. Everybody in Finland, check that out!

Help needed, still. Chervochkin and Chervochkina.

Late Yura Chervochkin (in the middle) being hugged by the law and order. This took place on March 11, 2007 in Moscow, at the time of the Communal Elections.


Yura Chervochkin, 22, died yesterday. He was beaten up by the UBOP officers two weeks ago in front of his home, in Serpukhov, Moscow oblast.



Every day of treatment in the hospital cost 20 000 rubles (500 euros) for his mother. Yura was an only child, and his mother had borrowed the money from friends. And Yura's fellow politicians. But she still needs some more in order to organise the funeral, and she's in debt.

Today mrs Chervochkina had walked into the prosecutors office in Moscow demanding her son's body for the burial. At first she was refused and even threatened with arrest. Actually, there have been cases of mothers demanding justice for their kids, but then they are put into jail instead, like just happened with Natalia Petrova's parents. (Petrova is a journalist who was beaten up in September at her home, with her parents and 9-year-old twin girls. I mentioned it the other day.)

But finally they agreed. The funeral of Yura Chervochkin will take place on Thursday the 13th in Serpukhov, near Moscow.

So in case you are an oil tycoon, or just have some extra cash, please send some to Yura's mom. Who lost her only child. (Please see my earlier blog posts on this, the bunch so far is here.)

If you can send your donations in foreign currency, it is better to do it by Western Union sending the money directly to her, Nadezhda Gennadyevna Chevochkina, in Serpukhov.



Even small donations might help. (Her. Too late for Yura now.) Thank you for your help and concern.
(On behalf of Nizhny Novgorod Foundation to Promote Tolerance)