On the Phone with Moscow

I have spent much of the day on the phone with friends and colleagues in Moscow who have been personally impacted by the near state-of-emergency style crackdown of the Dissenter’s March. According to everyone I have spoken to, the air is crackling with tension (putting 9,000 paramilitary troops onto the city streets tends to work up the nerves). One close friend, whose name I can’t share for her safety, was holed up in the offices of a major human rights NGO in Moscow during the March. The senior representatives of this NGO strongly advised them not to go back outside, and to “definitely NOT go to the march or anywhere near it. They will arrest anybody – everybody.” I have also been on the phone with Karinna Moskalenko, attorney for Garry Kasparov, who has spent the afternoon and evening at the courthouse. In the middle of my conversation with her, the phone line went dead. I continue to try to get in touch with her, and hope to share a report with you soon.