RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Feb 2, 2010
TODAY: Police complain to Interior Ministry; US State Department and Human Rights Watch respond to weekend arrests; Patriarch Kirill completes his first year; Georgia’s Russian-language television station blames Russian censorship for problems; Poland and Sweden call to reduce nuclear weapons; hammer and sickle building in trouble?
A group of riot police officers have issued complaints to the Interior Ministry, some of which allege that they were forced to make false arrests. The US State Department has offered its opinion on the weekend’s arrest of around 100 protesters in Moscow, calling it ‘another blow against freedom of speech and assembly‘. Human Rights Watch, the US-based rights group, also chimed in, calling on Russian authorities to stop blocking peaceful demonstrations: ‘Russian law clearly grants the right to freedom of assembly.‘ Dmitry Medvedev’s presidential aid has arrived in Kaliningrad, following anti-government protests over the weekend, ‘to study the situation‘. More reports on Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov’s efforts to demolish the wealthy Rechnik neighbourhood, which has already faced some night-time demolitions.