Taking on Hate Crimes in Russia

In relation to the video posted below, Paul LeGendre of Human Rights First has an opinion piece up over on Huffington Post:

In a week, President Obama will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The agenda items of the summit in Moscow are of course numerous and complex, but it would be a mistake to let human rights concerns get lost in the mix. High among those concerns is the troubling rise in hate crimes in Russia, the government’s inadequate response to this trend, and increased harassment – including at times murder – of human rights defenders. These and other outstanding human rights issues could make Russia a far less reliable partner in addressing economic, security, and other issues.

Click here to sign a letter to the U.S. president asking him to discuss these issues with Medvedev.