Helsinki Commission hearing to discuss "The Putin path: are human rights in retreat?" (05/21/00)

Helsinki Commission hearing to discuss "The Putin path: are human rights in retreat?"

WASHINGTON - The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe will conduct a hearing on human rights abuses in Russia following an attack by armed government security agents on the Media-Most headquarters in Moscow. A Media-Most official is set to testify about the raid at a hearing titled "The Putin Path: Are Human Rights in Retreat?"

Other focal points of the hearing will be the continuing war in Chechnya and fears that the human rights picture in Russia is turning for the worse.

The hearing will also assess security and economic issues and implications for U.S.-Russia bilateral relations, in advance of President Bill Clinton's June summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, May 23, at 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in Room 2200 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The session is open to members, staff, press and the public

Scheduled witnesses include: Lt. Gen. William Odom (ret.), director of National Security Studies, Hudson Institute, and former head of the National Security Agency; Igor Malashenko, first deputy chairman, Media-Most, Moscow; Dr. Sarah Mendelson, assistant professor of international politics, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University; Dr. Georgi Derlugian, assistant professor, department of sociology, Northwestern University; Rachel Denber, deputy director, Europe and Central Asia Division, Human Rights Watch; and Andrei Babitsky (via video-conference) Radio Liberty, Moscow.

Background

The Helsinki Commission provided the following background related to the hearing.

On May 11, armed government security agents attacked the headquarters of Media-Most corporation in Moscow and its subsidiary, the NTV television station, seizing what a security service spokesman claimed were illegally acquired tapes and transcripts of private conversations. NTV had criticized some members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration, as well as the government's conduct in the continuing war in Chechnya.

Human rights activists also are feeling pressure. Some human rights advocacy groups have been told that only the government - not NGOs - can legally protect human rights. Last summer, Mr. Putin told a Russian newspaper that "environmental groups were in the employ of foreign intelligence agencies."

As a result of his reporting from besieged Grozny last year, Radio Liberty journalist Andrei Babitsky remains in Moscow under investigation for allegedly "participating in an armed formation." Mr. Babitsky was recently awarded the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's prize for journalism.

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