Karinna Moskalenko believes that foreign leaders have a moral duty ask the Russian president difficult questions, regardless of the inconvenience. We agree. From the Helsingin Sanomat:
A day after the visit to Finland of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, a Russian visitor of a different kind arrived in Helsinki.
Right at the beginning of the interview, human rights lawyer Karina Moskalenko, 55, takes up a matter that has caused her some consternation during her visit to Helsinki.
“Why didn’t your president speak about Russia’s human rights situation during Medvedev’s visit? Relations between countries cannot be built without speaking about human rights. If there is a problem, it should not be kept in silence”, says Moskalenko.
She feels that the Finnish silence on the matter is all the strangerbecause Medvedev himself has discussed the issue quite openly recently.
“He has spoken about the legal nihilism that prevails in our country. Asituation has developed, in which it has been possible to murder civicactivists and journalists, and the guilty are not brought to justice.But it is not only about what the president says – it’s also about whathe does.”