Svanidze: Putin requested additional information on Memorial, stating that he respects its activities

During a meeting with members of the Human Rights Council (HRC), Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had requested additional information on the trial on the liquidation of the international public organization Memorial (recognized in the Russian Federation as an NGO-foreign agent – approx. ed.) and the Memorial Human Rights Center (recognized in the Russian Federation as an NGO-foreign agent – approx. ed.). Council member Nikolai Svanidze told Interfax about this.

Svanidze admitted that he “did not have the feeling that he (the president) was ready to close the Memorial.”

“But these are two organizations, they may have different destinies,” added the member of the Council. Svanidze stressed that during the meeting, Putin said that he respects the activities of Memorial.

Let us remind you that earlier it was reported that the prosecutor’s office intends to seek the liquidation of two structures of the “Memorial”. One lawsuit concerns the liquidation of the Memorial educational society. This lawsuit was filed with the Supreme Court by the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The second statement refers to the liquidation of the Memorial Human Rights Center. The corresponding claim was sent to the Moscow City Court by the Metropolitan Prosecutor’s Office.

The Prosecutor General’s Office explained that both structures allegedly “carry out their activities in violation of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and with other repeated or gross violations of the law or other legal acts.”

We also add that earlier DDT leader Yuri Shevchuk recorded a video message in support of the Memorial society. Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anushauskas said at all that the abolition of society would demonstrate that Russia “took the path of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.”

The Nobel Peace Prize laureates, ex-President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev and editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, also stood up for human rights defenders. They turned to the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office with a request to withdraw the claim to liquidate Memorial.

In a joint statement of the Nobel laureates, in particular, it is said that the long-term activities of the organization “have always been aimed at restoring historical justice, preserving the memory of hundreds of thousands of those who died and suffered during the years of repression, and preventing this from happening now and in the future.” The authors of the letter are convinced that the continuation of Memorial’s work “meets the interests of society and the Russian state.”

Also, an open letter in defense of the Memorial Society was signed by several dozen employees of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

We add that Vladimir Putin’s meeting with members of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC) lasted about five hours. As member of the HRC Kirill Kabanov said, at the meeting, Putin entered into a polemic with director Alexander Sokurov about the structure of Russia.

“The President reacted calmly, very clearly and practically every speech gave a rather serious alignment. He analyzed. In general, there was a good polemic with Sokurov, – Kabanov pointed out, – he repeated several times about the need to think about Russia. In fact, the polemic is very interesting, it is correct, because Sokurov expressed his thoughts on the structure of Russia. But the president said that when we raise such a question, we must be careful. “

In turn, HRC member Alexander Brod, in an interview with RIA Novosti, noted that the meeting also discussed the Holocaust in the program of school events, protection of the rights of compatriots, the topic of a safe Internet, orphans and social protection.

“Alexander Sokurov had a great discussion speech, the topic of the Caucasus, and political tension, and the reanimation of trade unions, as he called it, the arbitrariness of law enforcement agencies, sounded,” Brod added.

In his opinion, the meeting was very informative. Brod admitted that over the past 10 years “it was the longest, most intense meeting, almost 5 hours, 20 speakers, the widest coverage of topics that concern society.”