Welcome to the twenty-third edition of our Russian-language podcast Then & Now with me, Teresa Cherfas. My guest today is the Russian artist Slava Ptrk.

The Crypt Gallery in central London recently hosted a multimedia exhibition called The Brainwashing Machine, about the uses of propaganda.  The exhibition, which first opened in Madrid, showed works by artists from a range of different countries, but the great majority was from Russia. The venue in the basement of the Crypt at St. Pancras Church provided a dark and atmospheric labyrinth, with dark cells where little light penetrated.  In these alcoves and on their rough walls, were displayed intriguing interpretations of the role of propaganda in contemporary life. Among them, were works by Sasha Skochilenko, made while she was still in prison in Russia, Pavel Otdelnov and Nadia Tolokonnikova. One could also read and hear the words of dramatist Zhenya Berkovich and director Svetlana Petriichuk, both still in a Russian prison today. But personally, I was most taken by the works of our guest today: Slava Ptrk

This podcast was recorded on 19 September 2024.

My questions include:

• Tell us about your name, if you would. It’s a pseudonym, but why did you choose to glorify PTRK?
• Tell us about how you came to be a part of The Brainwashing Machine exhibition about propaganda?
• Your works exhibited in the exhibition – did you make them especially for the exhibition ?
• Perhaps your most memorable work in the exhibition is called ‘I am not interested in politics.’ Tell us about it and how it came about.
• You started your professional career as a journalist. Is that why propaganda and its impact are important subjects for you? What were your experiences as a journalist in this regard?
• What served as the impetus for you to become an artist? What were your first steps in this direction.
• What is most for you in expressing yourselMy questions include:
• Tell us about your name, if you would. It’s a pseudonym, I guess,  but why did you choose to glorify PTRK?
• Tell us about how you came to be a part of The Brainwashing Machine exhibition?
• Your works for the exhibition – did you make them especially?
• Perhaps your most memorable work in the exhibition is called ‘I am not interested in politics.’ Tell us about it and how it came about.
• You started your professional career as a journalist. Is that why propaganda and its impact are important subjects for you? What were your experiences as a journalist in this regard?
• What served as the impetus for you to become an artist? What were your first steps as an artist?
• What is most important to you in giving expression to yourself and the surrounding reality in your art? You have said that your chief instrument is irony.
• Another work in The Brainwashing Machine exhibition in London is called ‘Steps’ and next to it is a work titled ‘Ways.’ What do these works represent? How do they relate to propaganda? 
• Looking at your street art, one could guess that Banksy was a strong influence on your work. Is that so,  or did you take inspiration elsewhere?
• Your final work in the London exhibition is called ‘The Sinnerman.’ It is uses a mobile phone screen. How should one understand this work and what, or who, is depicted in it?
• When and why did you decide to leave Russia?
• How does being outside Russia affect your choice of subjects for your current and future work?
• Do you have hopes of returning to Russia?

My guest today is documentary filmmaker Askold Kurov, whose latest film, “Of Caravans and Dogs,” was screened this past June in England as part of the Sheffield Documentary Film Festival, the largest festival of its kind in the UK.

According to the festival programme, this “bold and compelling documentary looks at the curtailment of press freedom in Russia on the eve of and during the invasion of Ukraine.” The credits list two directors. One is “Anonymous Number 1” and the other is our guest today, Askold Kurov.

This podcast was recorded on 29 August 2024.

My questions include: 

1. Askold, I watched your film with great interest. Please explain the origins of the title. 

2. In the Sheffield Docfest programme, your unique access to people and events is much praised.  Tell us how the documentary came about?  In the credits, it says that the film was made with the support of Novaya Gazeta.  Was it their idea or did you approach them with the idea?

3.  Tell us about the relationship between you and your team. Your co-director, as well as two others in key roles – the sound recordist and the editor - all chose to remain anonymous, but you didn’t.

4.  I heard a journalist at TV Dozhd say that the Russian authorities had played the independent opposition media, that they had done everything to get opposition journalists to quit Russia voluntarily so that there would be no one left to push back against government pressure and censorship in Russia.  What do you think?

5.  You didn’t leave Russia straight after the beginning of the war.  You now live outside Russia.  What prompted your departure finally? 

6.  Do you keep in touch with your “anonymous” colleagues from the film?  How are they doing?

7.  Many people, including in your film, talk about Russian journalists’ own self-censorship.  Do you think this is an option?  Does it promote or destroy quality journalism?

8.  Access to all independent sources of information in Russia is increasingly restricted.  What sources of information remain open to Russians and is there a demand for it?  Has this changed since the Ukrainian army’s recent incursions in the Kursk region?

9..  Tell us a little about yourself.  Where did you grow up and how did you become a documentary film-maker?

10. I remember very well the strong impression I took away from your 2017 film about Ukrainian film-maker Oleg Sentsov, who was arrested during the annexation of Crimea and taken away to be imprisoned in Russia.  What did your close interactions with and observations of Ukrainians reveal about the differences between Ukrainians and Russians?

11.  Could you have predicted then that Russia would start a full-scale war against Ukraine?

12.  How do you see the war ending?

13.  Are you currently working on a new project?  

14. How do you find living in a foreign country?

15. How do you see your future? In Russia?  Under what circumstances?

Welcome to the thirteenth edition of our Russian-language podcast Then & Now with me, Teresa Cherfas. 

My guest today is Lev Aleksandrovich Ponomarev. Lev Ponomarev trained and worked as a physicist in the USSR before devoting more time and energy to issues of human rights in the Soviet Union and subsequently in the Russian Federation. He was one of the founders of  « Memorial » in 1988, and soon became one of the foremost figures  in human rights in Russia. In the dying days of perestroika, Lev Ponomarev went into politics and in 1990 co-founded the opposition movement « Democratic Russia ». He was a People’s Deputy at the end of the Soviet era and a deputy of the first convocation of the State Duma in the new Russia after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. In 1997 he founded the not-for-profit « For Human Rights » and in 2007 he set up the « Foundation in Defence of Prisoners’ Rights ». He was a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group from 1996 until its closure last year. In 2019 his organisation « For Human Rights » was shut down by the authorities. On December 28, 2020, Lev Ponomarev’s name was in the first list of individuals designated as ‘media foreign agents’ by the Russian Justice Ministry.

The recording was made on 22 December 2023.

You can also listen to the podcast on our website, or on SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 

My questions include:

• Lev Aleksandrovich, where were you when you learned that Russia had launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine? Do you remember how you felt at that moment?
• If I’m not mistaken, you now live in Paris. Could you tell me how this came about?
• Your NGO « For Human Rights » was closed down in 2019 and a year later you yourself became a “Media – Foreign Agent”. How did you feel when all this was happening and why did the authorities do this?
• You have always been someone who warned about the dangerous developments of the Putin regime. Do you think you had insights that others did not? Does everyone agree with you now?
• What do you think was Boris Yeltsin’s biggest mistake?
• Presidential elections are scheduled for next March – although we already know that they will not be “free and fair”. What do you think civil society should do in the run-up to the election – and during the election itself?
• To what extent do people in emigration perceive things differently from those who stayed in Russia? Is this difference noticeable to you? How do you think it affects relations between those who have left Russia and those who remained?
• It is hard not to be pessimistic about human rights in the near future, not least because Russia’s war against Ukraine is still ongoing.  But in the longer term, are there grounds for optimism?

This week our guest on the podcast is Irina Vladimirovna Kosterina. Irina Kosterina is Programme Coordinator of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Russia, a sociologist and gender researcher, trainer and organiser of rehabilitation retreats for activists, human rights activists, journalists and NGO workers.

The questions we discuss on the podcast include: what is the Heinrich Böll Foundation and what are the programmes of its Moscow branch; the Femfest which took place in Moscow in November 2020; the meaning of “Gender Democracy”; how Russian society feels about the idea of equal rights for men and women; the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church on attituded to gender equality; the difference in attitudes and evaluation of the idea of gender equality between Russians and the peoples of the Caucasian republics; the Böll Foundation’s studies on the role of gender in four Caucasian republics; the Foundation’s new project in Russia on overcoming and preventing burnout, stress and fatigue among NGO employees, activists, human rights defenders and journalists; what the future of the human rights movement in Russia holds

This podcast is in the Russian language. As well as on the Rights in Russia website, you can also listen to the podcast on SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes. The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook:  Irina Kosterina is a sociologist, gender researcher, and programme coordinator of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Moscow. Simon Cosgrove and I talked to Irina about many things: feminism, the recent Femfest 2020, the “traditional values” of the state, the role of men and women in the Caucasian republics, the burnout of people working in NGOs, and much more. For me, this was a continuation of a conversation we had started last August, when Irina stopped by for a visit and I treated her to my kari and showed her our local area. Speaking of feminism, Irina shared with us a recent story about how people concerned about “traditional culture” crashed the streaming of Femfest 2020 – it’s not clear whether out of their own enthusiasm or for money – which made it necessary to limit entry to the online event to those who registered. Although the word “feminism” often provokes an inadequate and aggressive reaction from a certain category of people, ideas of equality and justice are slowly gaining popularity, as Irina Kosterina discussed in our podcast.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here.

This week our guest on our podcast is Sofiya Yurievna Ivanova. Sofiya is a human rights activist in Ryazan, where she grew up and graduated from the Lomonosov Pedagogical Institute. Sofiya leads the work of the Ryazan School of Human Rights and was a long-time organizer of youth programmes at Ryazan Memorial and the International Youth Legal Camp “Citizen of the World.” Since 2009 Sofiya has been the coordinator of the Ryazan branch of Golos, the indepdent election monitor. Sofiya Yurievna is a laureate (2016) of the Moscow Helsinki Group award for her contribution to human rights education.

The podcast discusses the following issues: membership in the Komsomol and the CPSU; the Ryazan School of Human Rights and youth programmes at Ryazan Memorial, including the “Citizen of the World” youth camps; teaching human rights courses at a number of educational institutions in Ryazan; working as a coordinator of Golos in Ryazan; development of the human rights movement in Ryazan and its current state; the difference between the work of a human rights defender in Moscow and in the regions; the law on foreign agents and its impact; the future of human rights in Ryazan and in Russia.

This podcast is in the Russian language. You can listen to it here:

You can also listen to the podcast on Rights in Russia,  SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes. The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

This week our guest on the podcast is Olga Borisovna Sidorovich. Olga Borisovna is director of the Institute of Law and Public Policy and editor-in-chief of two important law journals: Sravnitelnoe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie and Mezhdunarodnoe pravosudie. The Institute of Law and Public Policy is an NGO and one of the leading independent legal centres in Russia. It was founded in 2000 and is engaged in the study of constitutional processes in Russia and worldwide, strategic litigation, legal education, research and publishing. The Institute’s engagement in strategic litigation via the procedure of Amicus Curiae has resulted in case law decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the European Court of Human Rights. In 1993, when the new Constitution of Russia was being created, the Centre for Constitutional Studies of Eastern and Central Europe was established under the Moscow Public Research Foundation. Seven years later, it was transformed into an independent organisation – the Institute of Law and Public Policy.

The issues discussed in the podcast include the history and work of the Institute of Law and Public Policy; the amicus curiae procedure; reform of the Russian Constitutional Court; amendments to the Constitution made this year; ongoing changes in NGO legislation and the future of the NGO sector; and the future of Russia’s legal system.

This podcast is in the Russian language

This week our guest is Mikhail Valentinovich Savva. Mikhail Savva is a human rights activist, a political scientist and former professor at Kuban State University. In 1993-1994 Mikhail Savva was head of the Department of Nationalities, Regional Policy and Migration of the Krasnodar Region Administration. In 1994-1995 he headed the Department for Nationalities Affairs of the Ministry of Nationalities and Regional Policy of Russia, a position from which he resigned over the first Chechen war. In 1995-1996, Savva was deputy gead of the Krasnodar Region Administration and the Administration's representative to the Regional Legislative Assembly. He then became head of Krasnodar City Hall's department for public and interregional relations. From 1996 Savva worked at Kuban State University where he was an associate professor and then professor in the Department of Political Science; from 2001 he was a professor in the Department of Public Relations and Social Communications. From January 2001 Mikhail Savva also held the position of director of grantmaking programmes at the Southern Regional Resource Centre, an NGO. He was also a member of the Krasnodar Region Public Oversight Commission, monitoring human rights in places of detention. Savva is a specialist in the field of interethnic relations research and the author of a large number of publications in this field. In April 2013 a criminal case was initiated against Savva under Article 159, Part 3, of the Russian Criminal Code ('Fraud on an especially large scale'). In June 2013 the Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners recognised Mikhail Savva as a political prisoner. In April 2014 a district court in Krasnodar convicted Savva and gave him a three-year suspended sentence. Since 2015 Mikhail Savva has lived in Kiev. He is currently chairof the board of the Owl Expert Group, an NGO registered in Ukraine.

The issues discussed in the podcast include: the reasons for, and course of, his criminal prosecution; conditions in pre-trial detention centre; the major issues facing the Russian judicial and law enforcement systems; the Southern Resource Centre; right of association in Russia and Ukraine; relations between Russia and Ukraine; the future of Russia.

Sergei Nikitin writes: "Hoping for justice in modern Russia is a sign of not being in your right mind." Our latest guest on the podcast, Mikhail Valentinovich Savva, told Simon Cosgrove and me how, since April 2013, the FSB has been mocking him, accusing him of not having conducted the classes in social entrepreneurship planned as part of a project under a grant from the regional administration. "In fact, I conducted even more of them than was required," says Mikhail Savva. In May 2013 a second case was initiated against Savva, already under Article 159 of the Criminal Code. He spent a year in pre-trial detention centre ? 5, in a cell of 9.5 square meters on the 4th floor of the building of the NKVD internal prison built under Yezhov. A year after his home was first searched - in April 2014 - Savva was given a three-year suspended sentence. He left behind the walls built by Yezhov, but it was clear to the professor that the local Chekists would not stop at this. At the end of 2014 he was again brought in for questioning. After this interrogation, it became clear to Savva that any day fresh fabricated charges would be laid against him. In early 2015, Mikhail Valentinovich left Russia. In a country where courts - according to Savva - are fully dependent on the FSB, where candidates for judges are reviewed by the FSB before being appointed, there is no justice. Mikhail Savva is carrying on his work, now in Ukraine. He writes expert opinions at the request of lawyers from European countries, the United States, Ukraine, Russia and Israel with regard to asylum and extradition cases. Our conversation was extremely interesting. I kept catching myself thinking that I was glad that this wonderful man managed to slip out of the hands of the Chekists. But I regret he had to leave his home, his country.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. The podcast is in the Russian language. The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera. 

This week our guest is Svetlana Alekseevna Gannushkina, human rights defender, chair of the Civic Assistance Committee, a member of the board and director of the Migration and Law Network of the Memorial Human Rights Centre. Until June 2012 (from 2002) Svetlana Alekseevna was a member of the Presidential Human Rights Council.

The issues we discuss in our podcast include: when and why Svetlana Alekseevna took up human rights work; about the work of the Civic Assistance Committee and the Migration and Law Network; the policy of the Russian authorities towards asylum seekers and how this can be compared with that of other countries; the law “on foreign agents”; the experience of working on the Presidential Human Rights Council; the difference between human rights protection and politics; and the future of human rights in the Russian Federation.

You can also listen to the podcast on Rights in Russia, Podcasts.com,  SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes. 

The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: "I remember 18 years ago when Svetlana Alekseevna, standing next to me in Spaso-House and watching George W. Bush Jr. approach us inexorably, told me she wanted to avoid a handshake with the US President. It was probably not a dislike, but a natural modesty that perfectly matched the courage and bravery of Gannushkina, this wonderful human rights activist. Last Saturday Simon Cosgrove and I talked to Svetlana Alekseevna and she remembered how a sense of personal dignity made her a human rights activist back in her school years. "All my 10th grade I dedicated myself to fighting with the school director," she remembered. Already after graduating from school, having bought a copy of the Labour Code of the RSFSR, Svetlana Gannushkina was able to defend her friend, who had been illegally dismissed from the Historical and Archival Institute - the girl was restored to her job. This was just the beginning of human rights activities for Svetlana Gannushkina, chair of the Civic Assistance Committee, a member of the board and head of the Migration and Law Network of Memorial Human Rights Centre. We had a very interesting conversation and it is available in our new podcast.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here

This week our guest is Marina Alekseevna Dubrovina. Marina Alekseevna is a human rights defender and lawyer from Novorossiisk. For many years Marina Alekseevna has worked with the Migration and Law network, which is part of the Memorial organisation. She has also worked with the Public Verdict Foundation. Marina Alekseevna has defended many individuals in prosecutions in Chechnya, including the human rights defender Oyub Titiev.

The questions we discuss in the podcast include: the Oyub Titiev case and other high profile court cases in Chechnya and elsewhere; the human rights situation in Chechnya, Krasnodar region and Russia in general; the use of torture by law enforcement agencies; the role of the European Court of Human Rights; problems of the judicial and law enforcement systems in today’s Russia; the attack on Marina and the journalist Elena Milashina; the safety of human rights defenders and lawyers, especially in Chechnya; how Marina became a human rights lawyer; and the future of human rights and the rule of law in Russia.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: I have always admired human rights defenders who live outside the capitals. Marina Dubrovina, who lives in Novorossiisk, is among them. She is a wonderful lawyer who started her career after attending a lecture by Karinna Moskalenko. In the conversation that Simon and I had with Marina last week, Marina talked about about how this lecture “turned her life around.” Marina has been a lawyer with the human rights organisation Migration and Law since 2003, and since 2007 she has been an advokat (barrister), always distinguished by her high professionalism and – I would add – courage. We talked to Marina both about the attack on her in February this year and about an attempt to deprive her of her lawyer’s status. We discuss the Oyub Titiev case and the cases of Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klych. We recalled the cases of Vitishko and Ghazaryan,  Mikhail Savva and Vyacheslav Merekha – all these people were defended by Marina Dubrovina. They and many others have been helped by this outstanding lawyer from Novorossisk.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. You can also listen to the podcast on Podcasts.com,  SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes.  The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

This week our guest is Nina Zakharkina-Berezner. Nina is a co-founder and director of the French NGO DestinationEst (D’EST) which aims to increase dialogue between Russian and French civil societies, as well as involving European politicians and opinion leaders. Her work focuses mainly on advocacy practices and exchange programmes dealing with various topics such as municipal policy, migration issues, social entrepreneurship and others. DestinationEst helps key civil society actors from Russia share their experiences with professionals and politicians in France and the EU. The questions we discuss in the podcast include: the main goals of DestinationEst; how to find partners in Russian civil society and among human rights organisations; the level of interest in France in what is happening in Russia; the views of Russian activists about France; the role of the EU-Russia Forum; the state of civil society in Russia today; the future of civil society in Russia; the work of the Memorial Human Rights Centre; and human rights in Chechnya. This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to the podcast on Rights in Russia, SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes. The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: Nina believes it is very important to draw the attention of the French public to what is happening in Russia. And she seems to be doing it successfully. Unlike Madame Narochnitskaya, whom I mention in the podcast, who opened the so-called Institute for Democracy and Cooperation in Paris 13 years ago, Nina is running very interesting projects with our compatriots. However, it’s clear that that Narochnitskaya’s is a Kremlin project, as is the so-called Russian Spiritual and Cultural Orthodox Centre, and both are engaged in something other than democracy and cooperation. Nina told us about her projects, her work with Memorial Human Rights Centre and even how, despite the pandemic, she managed to take part in a series of single-person pickets in Kamchatka.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here

This week our guest on the podcast is Dmitry Aleksandrovich Petrov. Dmitry Aleksandrovich is deputy chair of the council of municipal deputies of the Yakimanka district in Moscow. He is also a co-founder of an environmental project for the public monitoring of air pollution levels in his district and the city more widely.

The issues we discuss in the podcast include: What is Yakimanka district? What powers do council members have? Is the public interested in municipal elections? How much time does working as a deputy take up? Why were you elected from the Yabloko party? What were the elections in 2017 like? Are local elections similar to national ones? What is the environmental project “breathe:Moscow”? How do you see the future of your municipality and the city of Moscow?

This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen on our website or at SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes. The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: “The poem ‘I enter every house on Yakimanka,’ which we remember from childhood can well apply to Dmitry Petrov. Last week Simon Cosgrove and I spent more than an hour in an interesting conversation with Dmitry, a member of the council of deputies of the Yakimanka municipal district. A huge puddle in front of the entrance to his house, which got in everyone’s way, was, as it is now called, a trigger for Dmitry. Over the next two and a half years, Dmitry worked to convince the local government that it was their responsibility to keep the local area in good order, and as a result of his persistent reminders and demands he achieved the desired result. ‘It’s difficult to participate in the life of the city,’ says Dmitry. The bureaucrat’s art of avoiding responsibility and issuing noncommittal responses often sends citizens who have lost hope ‘back to the sofa’ with the feeling: ‘The world is against us!’ The desire to show people that in the city – at least on the municipal level – there can be government with a human face led Dmitry Petrov to run for deputy. I found his story about how he gathered signatures to stand for election particularly interesting, how he and his team visited all apartments (incidentally, when I lived in Moscow I never opened the door to any unexpected caller), how ten people were elected to the council of deputies of Yakimanka municipal district, of whom nine were from Yabloko and only one from United Russia. As to be expected, Dmitry told us how the powers of a municipal deputy (at least in Moscow) are severely restricted. As a deputy you are obliged, literally, to do very little. But if you want you can work to achieve quite major and important things for the city. The full verse of Agniya Barto’s poem sounds a little frightening: ‘I enter every house in Yakimanka. And I put iron scrap on my sled at every gate.’ Dmitry Petrov does not need iron scrap, and he does not need a sled. It seems to me that he is an excellent deputy, ready to help people, and he sees his main task as follows: ‘I would like at least some of those people whom I serve to rid themselves of the false notion of their own supposed helplessness’.”

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here

This week, our guest is Sergei Markovich Lukashevsky. Human rights activist Sergei Markovich is director of the Sakharov Centre in Moscow, a post he took up in 2008. By education a historian, Sergei Markovich has worked for both of Russia’s most famous human rights organizations, Memorial and the Moscow Helsinki Group, and, before moving to work at the Sakharov Centre, together with Tatiana Lokshina he founded and worked at Demos, a Moscow-based human rights organization that specialised in monitoring and reporting on human rights in Russia. 

The issues discussed in the podcast include: the development of the human rights movement in post-Soviet Russia and its current state, the law on foreign agents, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and, of course, the work of the Sakarov Centre, its plans for the future, the importance of Andrei Sakharov in Russia today and the upcoming centenary of his birth.

This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen on our website or at SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes. The music, from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: “If you walk along the Zemlyannoi Val towards the Yauza river from Kursk metro station, on the even-numbered side you will see House No. 48B, where Sakharov lived, and on the odd-numbered side you will see a path that will take you past the Transfixed Pegasus and a piece of the Berlin Wall to the Rusty Angel and the Sakharov Centre. Last week, Simon Cosgrove and I talked to Sergei Lukashevsky, the director of this unique centre. Sergei Lukashevsky is someone with extensive experience working for human rights organisations (Memorial Human Rights Centre, Moscow Helsinki Group, Demos, the Sakharov Centre) and he considers the promotion of human rights values his main task. In my opinion, he is doing a great job: the Sakharov Centre has become a public and educational platform where numerous important and useful events, exhibitions, debates and seminars are held. Sometimes events at the Centre irritate characters who are rather excitable and unusual. The Centre’s employees are ready for anything and do an excellent job. Next year the world will be celebrating the centenary of Sakharov’s birth, and of course the Centre, which was established in 1996 on the initiative of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, will be hosting many interesting events. We talked to Sergei about all this but I have the feeling he only had time to touch on the tip of the iceberg that goes by the name of the Sakharov Centre.” 

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here

In this podcast, Irina Flige, human rights activist and director of the Memorial Research and Information Centre in St Petersburg, talks about her work that focuses on historical memory, the role of the Memorial Research and Information Centre and the current human rights situation in Russia. Irina was to appear at Pushkin House in April this year as a joint event of the Pushkin Club and Rights in Russia, but the event was postponed because of the coronavirus. The conversation touches upon the legacy of political repression and efforts to document – and counteract – it, the issue of why Memorial focuses on the physical evidence of repression, and includes topics such as the Sandormokh execution site, the case of Yury Dimitriev, the impact of Covid-19 and Memorial’s latest projects.

Josephine von Zitzewitz is a member of the board of Rights in Russia and a staff member at the UiT Arctic University in Norway. The video version of this podcast was first published by Pushkin House on 10 September 2020. See: https://www.pushkinhouse.org/blog/2020/9/10/historical-memory-in-russia?rq=flige

The podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to this podcast via our website (https://rightsinrussia.org/podcasts) on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/rightsinrussia) and on Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo...ei/id1495261418).

The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, performed by Karolina Herrera.

My guest today is Natalya Zyagina, head of the Moscow branch of Amnesty International shut down by the Russian authorities in 2022. Natalya Zvyagina has a long record as a Russian human rights activist. She is originally from the city of Voronezh, where she worked for many years in the Interregional Human Rights Group. Natalya has also worked at the Institute for Law and Public Policy, a non-profit organization based in Moscow, and at the Russian branch of Transparency International.

This recording was made on 30 November 2023.

In addition to our website, you can also listen to the podcast on SoundCloud, Podcasts.com, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 

My questions include:

• First of all, please tell us about your work in Voronezh. What prompted you to become involved in human rights work?
• In the 1990s Voronezh became one of the main centres of human rights activity in Russia, and many of Russia’s leading human rights defenders come from there. What do you attribute this to?
• In 2018, you took up the post of head of Amnesty International’s Moscow office. What were your expectations at that time? What was Amnesty’s role in Russia at that time? How did the Russian human rights community feel about the organisation?
• Looking back, how do you assess the change in the status of Aleksei Navalny, whose recognition as a prisoner of conscience was removed for a while, although now he is again recognised as such? And how important is Amnesty’s classification of people as “prisoners of conscience” for the Russian public and human rights community in general?
• In March 2022, the Russian media regulator blocked access to Amnesty International’s Russian-language website. What impact did this decision have on your work?
• In April of the same year Russian authorities removed the Amnesty’s registration as a representative office in Moscow. In addition to Amnesty’s office, the Russian Ministry of Justice closed the offices of 15 representative offices of foreign NGOs and foundations, including Human Rights Watch, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Heinrich Böll, Friedrich Naumann, Friedrich Ebert, and other organizations. The Justice Ministry said at the time that this was done “in connection with revealed violations of Russian law.” What was all this in fact about?
• At the time, Agnès Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, said that Amnesty would continue its work to document and expose human rights abuses in Russia despite the office closure. How easy was it for Amnesty to continue its work without a Moscow office? What has been your personal situation and that of other staff members since then?
• Where were you when Russia invaded Ukraine? Did the invasion of Ukraine come as a shock to you?
• Are the current extreme measures against human rights in Russia a result of the war? Or have the policies of the Putin regime been moving in this repressive direction anyway?
• After all these events, a new conflict has erupted in the Middle East. Has this had any impact on your work at Amnesty?
• How do you assess the events in Dagestan in relation to the war in the Middle East?
• Many human rights defenders have left Russia. What is life like for those who have remained in the country? Can they do any meaningful work at all?
• Recently, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs drafted a bill that would require foreigners visiting Russia to declare their “loyalty” to the Russian authorities. What does this mean?
• How do you see the future of human rights work in Russia?

This week our guest is Aleksandr Vladimirovich Cherkasov, chairof the board of Memorial Human Rights Centre. Aleksandr Vladimirovich is an 'engineer physicist' by education. He has been an activist with Memorial since 1989, and since 1991 he has worked at the Memorial Human Rights Centre, investigating the state of human rights and humanitarian law in various "hot spots", including Chechnya. Aleksandr Vladimirovich also investigated the events of 1993 in Moscow. During the first and second wars in Chechnya, he travelled dozens of times to combat zones to collect information and provide assistance to the victims of the conflict, searching for missing people, prisoners, kidnapped people and hostages. After the war between Russia and Georgia in August 2008 he repeatedly travelled to South Ossetia. We talked about all this and more about how Memorial has been affected by the law on foreign agents, about Natalia Estemirova, about Oyub Titiev, about Yury Dmitriev and about human rights in today's Russia and in the future.

Sergei Nikitin writes: It has long been noticed that among human rights defenders there are many natural scientists, including those from the physical sciences. And just as under the Soviet regime scientific articles often began with Lenin's quote "The electron is as inexhaustible as the atom", so now an interview with a human rights activist with a background in science often begins with the question that goes approximately like this: "What is it in physics that turns those who study the subject into human rights activists? Simon Cosgrove and I began our conversation with Aleksandr Cherkasov in the very same vein: traditions are great things, it is not for us to break them. I would like to point out that during the conversation Aleksandr particularly emphasised the fact that he is a 'physics engineer' who is as far from being a physicist as the courtier is from the Sovereign. Perhaps this is true. But Sasha's storytelling is phenomenal, and he has much to tell. Apart from the fact that he has been involved in many things, remembers the smallest details, names and dates, he delights with his special view of events, his analysis and understanding of what is going on around him. And although Aleksandr insists that "we don't understand what's going on", stressing that this is the beauty of our world, he seems to understand a very great deal, noting that "Physics gives us reason to be optimistic under conditions of unpredictability and incomplete information," urging us to simply live in a world that is unpredictable and so beautiful. Listen to Aleksandr Cherkasov.

The podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to this podcast via our website (https://rightsinrussia.org/podcasts) on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/rightsinrussia) and on Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo...ei/id1495261418).

The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, performed by Karolina Herrera.

Our guest this week is Igor Viktorovich Kochetkov. Igor Viktorovich - one of the founders and current director of the Russian LGBT Network, an organisation founded in 2006 whose main office is located in St. Petersburg. The Russian LGBT Network is an interregional organisation created to provide public support for the elimination of all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It is the first and only interregional LGBT organisation in Russia. The Russian LGBT Network is a member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association.

Topics discussed in the podcast include: the history of the Russian LGBT Network, its goals and objectives; why it was founded in St. Petersburg; the impact on the Russian LGBT Network of the law on foreign agents; the adoption and consequences of the 2013 law against "Promotion among Minors of Non-traditional Sexual Relations”; the situation in Russia in general and in Chechnya in particular for LGBT people; amendments to the Constitution; and what needs to be done to further promote LGBT rights.

Sergei Nikitin writes: The breaking up of the Queer Culture Festival in 2006 was the formal impetus to create an organisation now known as the Russian LGBT Network. On Sunday Simon Cosgrove and I talked to one of its founders, Igor Kochetkov. It was a very interesting conversation in which Igor told us the story of how LGBT people's rights have come to be perceived as an important component of human rights. This has happened in a relatively short time. I remember at the very beginning of my work for Amnesty International in Russia, some Amnesty activists expressed their disagreement with our position on LGBT rights. Now, this area of work for human rights defenders attracts many new people to Amnesty and is welcomed by very many. Paradoxically, it would seem, it was the shameful law of 2013 against 'Propaganda Among Minors of Non-Traditional Sexual Relations’ that has led to this turnaround. A great deal has been done by the Russian LGBT Network, and you can find out more about the organisation and its work from their website: https://www.lgbtnet.org . In the meantime, listen to our podcast with the wonderful Igor Kochetkov.

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to it on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/rightsinrussia/saymon-i-sergey-s-igorem-kochetkovym) Podcasts.com (www.podcasts.com/simon-sergei-0b5d072c0), Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) ? Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo…ei/id1495261418).

The music is from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, played by Karolina Errera

Today on the podcast our guest is Andrei Anatolyevich Kovalev. During his distinguished career, he has been a member of the Institute of the US and Canada of the USSR Academy of Sciences and then of the Diplomatic Academy. He worked for the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was a member of the secretariat of the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, worked on the staff of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, and also on the staff of the Office of the Federal Human Rights Ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin. While working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, Andrei Kovalev was engaged in many matters of vital importance for human rights: abolishing the repressive use of psychiatry, releasing political prisoners, drafting a number of laws that paved the way to liberalising foreign travel and freedom of religion. Andrei Kovalev is the author of several important publications, including 'France at the Crossroads of World Politics' (International Relations, Moscow, 1983), 'Behind the Scenes of Russian Politics' (Ibid. - Verlag, Stuttgart, 2012) and a number of articles in the journals International Life, World Economy and International Relations, USA: Economics, Politics, Ideology, The Observer, as well as the newspapers Izvestia, Novaya Gazeta and Komsomolskaya Pravda. He now lives in Brussels.

Sergei Nikitin writes: "Andrei Anatolievich Kovalyov was yesterday our guest on the podcast. He talked about the extraordinarily interesting time he spent working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR under Shevardnadze in 1985 - 1991, where his task was to bring Soviet legislation into line with the international obligations of the USSR. Kovalev spent a significant part of his diplomatic career working on democratic reforms and human rights in the USSR and Russia. His diplomatic service continued until 2004, when he became an advisor to the Federal Human Rights Ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin, at the invitation of Lukin himself. Andrei Kovalev does not have the highest level of opinion of Lukin as a defender of human rights, based on his personal experience. Of course, we also talked about the current situation. "I see no limits to the depths to which those in power may go," Andrei Anatolyevich told us yesterday about Putin and his entourage: "The Kremlin has no brakes". In sum, we had a very interesting conversation with a professional and extremely perceptive man. I look forward to reading his book "Russia's Dead End : An Insider's Testimony from Gorbachev to Putin", and I recommend our podcast to everyone."

The podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to this podcast via our website (https://rightsinrussia.org/podcasts) on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/rightsinrussia) and on Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo...ei/id1495261418).

The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, performed by Karolina Herrera.

Our guest this week is Pavel Chikov. Pavel is a well-known lawyer, human rights activist and public figure who is head of Agora International Human Rights Group. He lives in Kazan. During the podcast we discuss strategic issues of court practice and what distinguishes successful court practice from unsuccessful; Agora's priorities in litigation; the degree of independence of Russian courts; the regulatory framework for NGOs in Russia and the impact of the law on "foreign agents"; the recent constitutional changes; the role of the European Court of Human Rights in Russia; the attractiveness of working in the field of human rights for young lawyers; events in Khabarovsk and Belarus; and the future of human rights in Russia.

Sergei Nikitin writes: Everyone knows Chikov. Well, or almost everybody. So that even more people get to know him better, Simon Cosgrove and I talked to Pavel. We had a very interesting conversation. Pavel Chikov talked about what success in the world of lawyering is and about the cases on which Agora's lawyers are working. We discussed a great deal apart from legal issues: about the fact that human rights vocabulary is not very clear to ordinary citizens, about how almost a thousand cases are handled by Apology of Protest, a specialised group set up by Agora, about Agora’s work protecting activists, bloggers, journalists and NGOs. In 2015 the Agora Interregional Association of Human Rights Organizations, which had existed since 2005, was transformed into the Agora International Human Rights Group, with Pavel Chikov at its head. Listen to our conversation, I’m sure you’ll find it very interesting.

The podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on Podcasts.com (www.podcasts.com/simon-sergei-0b5d072c0), Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo...ei/id1495261418). The music is from the Elegy for Solo Viola by Stravinsky, performed by Karolina Herrera.

This week our guest is Viktor Valentinovich Kogan-Yasny. Viktor Valentinovich is a commentator on public affairs, writer and philosopher. Since 1989 he has been actively involved in public life. He started as an activist of Moscow Tribune and Memorial and in 1990-91 he worked with the Voters' Club of the Academy of Sciences and the Interregional Group of Deputies of the First Congress of Soviet People's Deputies. He was an aide to the chair of the Human Rights Committee of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet. Since 1992, he has been chair of the board of the Society against the Death Penalty and Torture, which has now become the NGO, Regional Civic Initiative - Right to Life and Civil Dignity. Viktor Valentinovich is one of the founders of Memorial Human Rights Centre and a member of its board. Since 1995, he has been an advisor both to the Yabloko party and to Grigory Yavlinsky. Among the topics we discuss in the podcast are the death penality in Russia, Amnesty International, the links between political developments and human rights, the recent apparent poisoning of Aleksei Navalny and events in Khabarovsk and Belarus. 

Sergei Nikitin writes: Viktor Valentinovich Kogan-Yasny is the latest guest of our podcast. Simon Cosgrove and I spent a very interesting hour with Viktor Valentinovich. I was especially interested to hear his story about how he found premises for Amnesty International in Moscow. In 1991 Marjorie Farquharson, the first representative of the oldest human rights organization in Russia, opened an office for the organisation on Herzen Street with the help of Viktor. The phone number that was allocated to the Amnesty office has remained unchanged for almost 30 years. Victor may not be very familiar to  the general public, but he is a very interesting interlocutor. In 1990-91. Viktor Kogan-Yasny was an assistant chair of the Human Rights Committee of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet. It was he who founded the Society against the Death Penalty and Torture, where in 1992 he became chair of the board. I read with great interest the posts of Viktor Kogan-Yasny, one of the oldest members of the Yabloko Party, writer and philosopher.

The podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on Podcasts.com (www.podcasts.com/simon-sergei-0b5d072c0), Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo...ei/id1495261418). The music is from the Elegy for Solo Viola by Stravinsky, performed by Karolina Herrera.

This week our guest is Igor Valentinovich Sazhin, an activist with Memorial and a human rights defender from Syktyvkar in the Komi Republic. Among the topics we discuss are how Igor became involved in the activities of civil society and Memorial in particular, his work as the chair person of the Komi Human Rights Commission "Memorial," the impact of the law on "foreign agents," recent events in Belarus and the future of civil society and human rights in Russia.

Sergei Nikitin writes: 

The Podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/rightsinrussia/saymon-i-sergey-s-igorem-sazhinym), Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo...ei/id1495261418). The music is from "Elegy for Solo Viola" by Stravinsky and is performed by Karolina Herrera.

This week our guest is Anna Sevortian, executive director of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, an NGO based in Berlin. Before joining the Forum, Anna worked as Russia Director at Human Rights Watch and has over 15 years of experience working on civil society and human rights issues. Anna has been a Galina Starovoitova Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, and deputy director of the Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights in Moscow. Anna holds a Mid-Career MPA from Harvard Kennedy School and a degree in journalism from Moscow State University. As Forum executive director, Anna is responsible for the overall management and development of the organisation.

The EU-Russia Civil Society Forum is a network of thematically diverse NGOs from Russia and the European Union, established as a bottom-up, non-partisan civic initiative. The Forum serves as a platform for members to engage in joint activities, articulate common positions, provide support and solidarity, and exert civic influence on policy- and decision-making at the (inter)governmental level. Driven by a vision of ‘the civil society beyond borders’, the Forum brings together organisations and people and therefore contributes to integration between Russia and the EU, based on common values of pluralistic democracy, rule of law, human rights and social justice.

EU-Russia Civil Society Forum was officially launched at a Founding Meeting on 29 March 2011 in Prague, Czech Republic. As of today, the Forum has 183 member and supporter organisations from 19 EU member states, Great Britain and Russia.

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on  SoundCloud,  Spotify  and  iTunes. 

The music from “Stravinsky’s Elegy for Viola Solo” is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

This week our guest is Semyon Simonov, a human rights activist from Sochi in Krasnodar region. For many years, Semyon Simonov has been head of the regional human rights NGO, Southern Human Rights Centre, which provided free legal assistance on human rights violations, organized educational events and facilitated other civic initiatives in collaboration with other NGOs until it effectively ceased to function in 2017 because of fines imposed under the ‘foreign agent’ law. On 20 July 2020 the authorities charged human rights activist Semyon Simonov under Art. 315, Part 2, of the Russian Criminal Code – i.e. a charge of non-execution of a court decision, in accordance with which the organization Southern Human Rights Centre had been fined under the ‘foreign agent’ law. Our podcast is about this case – although we also succeeded in asking Semyon many other questions, as you will heare.

Regarding the charges brought against Semyon Simonov, on 20 July 2020 Dunja Mijatovic, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, said in a statement: “Today’s indictment of Semyon Simonov, a Russian human rights defender in Sochi, for not complying with the legislation on non-commercial organisations is alarming and will have a massive chilling effect on the entire human rights community in Russia.“

Human Rights Watch in a statement said: “This attack against a human rights defender demonstrates how the Russian authorities continue to use the repressive foreign agents law to criminalize the important work of independent groups. Not only should the case against Semyon Simonov be dropped immediately, but the foreign agents law needs to go.”

Frontline Defenders has also issued a statement on the case: “Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned by the indictment of Semyon Simonov and believes that the pressure on and harassment against him is a concerted attempt to effectively make it impossible for him to carry out his human rights activities in Russia. Front Line Defenders reiterates its concern regarding the extension of the “foreign agents” law to include individuals, as it places human rights defenders under increased risk and further hampers their peaceful and legitimate human rights work.”

In its press release on the case, Human Rights Watch noted: “Human Rights Defenders are afforded specific recognition and protection in international law to enable them to carry out their human rights work without undue interference. The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders underscores that everyone performing activities in defense of human rights has the right to seek the protection and realization of human rights at the national and international levels, to conduct human rights work individually and in association with others, to form associations and nongovernmental organizations, and to be protected in the event of violations. The declaration sets out a series of principles and rights drawn from international human rights instruments that are legally binding. It was adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly.”

This podcast is in Russian.

You can also listen to this podcast on  SoundCloud,  Spotify  or  iTunes. 

The music from “Stravinsky’s Elegy for Viola Solo” is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

Maria Karp is a London-based freelance translator, journalist and writer. She is the author of a recently published Russian biography of George Orwell and editor of the Orwell Society Journal.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. 

Our guest this week is Elena Shakhova, chair of Citizens' Watch, one of the leading human rights organizations in St. Petersburg. Elena Shakhova joined Citizens' Watch in 1998 (the organization itself was founded in 1992) and became its chair in 2014 on the death of the group's founder and leader, Boris Pavlovich Pustyntsev. In the podcast, we discuss with Elena the achievements of Citizens' Watch, the organisation's past and present, the impact of the law on "foreign agents", government policy towards civil society organizations, the human rights situation in St. Petersburg and the current state of human rights in the Russian Federation, in the present time and in the near future.

Sergei Nikitin writes: “When prosecutors who come to us to conduct an inspection leaf through our charter, it is especially unpleasant for them to read this: “Citizens' Watch helps to establish oversight by civil society over the activities of law enforcement state bodies - the army, the police and the special services - to prevent them from violating the constitutional rights of citizens.” Elena Shakhova told us this in yesterday's conversation with Simon and me. Elena joined Citizens' Watch, an organisation set up on the initiative of Boris Pavlovich Pustyntsev with the active participation of Yury I. Vdovin in 1998. After the death of Boris Pavlovich, Elena became the chair of the NGO in 2014. You should certainly listen to how Citizens' Watch has worked all these years, how things are going today, and how Lena sees the future."

This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on Sound Cloud (https://soundcloud.com/rightsinrussia) Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and iTunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo ... ei / id1495261418).

The music from "Stravinsky's Elegy for Viola Solo" is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.

This week our guest on the podcast is Igor Averkiev, civil society activist and human rights defender from Perm. Among the many themes we discuss are: how Igor became involved in civil society activity, the work of Perm Civic Chamber (1996-2020), what made Perm a centre of civil society activity in Russia, the difference between civil society activism and politics, the relationship between civil society and government in Russia, the impact of the 'foeign agent' law and the future of civil society and human rights in Russia. 

Sergei Nikitin writes: The city of Perm has always seemed to me like some amazing place where there are a lot of wonderful human rights defenders who work successfully in many areas. Where civil society, through its activists, is able to cooperate constructively with the local authorities: governors and mayors. My only visit to this city – many years ago – only strengthened my feelings. Years have passed, the situation has changed: the authorities are not longer doing much to support active people with initiative who are independent of them. But here, too, Perm’s human rights defenders have won: the brand of foreign agents has been removed from the region’s leading NGOs, including the Perm Civic Chamber. Perm Civic Chamber (PCC), which existed from 1996 until this year, was initiated by Igor Averkiev. He was also its chair. Yesterday, Simon and I talked with Igor. We had a very interesting conversation: Igor Averkiev said that the recently closed Perm Civic Chamber because it had fulfilled its mission. Civil society in Perm has matured. Igor noted three phenomena of today that are typical not only for Perm: the presence of an independent, large-scale volunteer movement, charity on the part of private citizens, and the emergence of specific civic communities (green organisations, animal rights, etc.) You can hear our conversation in this podcast.

If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. The podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. Music from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola is performed by Karolina Herrera.

My guests today are two Parisians, Aleksandra Ilkhovskaya and Svetlana Dokudovskaya: Aleksandra [known to everyone as “Sanya]” has lived in Paris since she was six years old – her mother emigrated from Russia in 1991. She is married with two daughters. She is a primary school teacher with 10 years’ experience. Svetlana has lived with her French husband and their 13-year-old daughter in Paris for the past 17 years. She works as a cell biologist at the Gustave Roussy Institute, Europe’s largest cancer research centre. Both their lives changed after February 24th 2022.

This recording was made on 22 September 2023.

My questions include:

1. What were your thoughts and feelings when you woke up last February 24th?
2. Why did you decide you needed to take action? And how?
3. When did you first arrive at the train station and what did you find there?
4. You obviously helped the people there a great deal, but what did you get out of the experience, what did you learn or discover about yourselves?
5. Sveta, with Sanya’s help, you published a book called “Operation Montparnasse”. It contains the stories of refugees and also the stories of your fellow Russian volunteers/translators. What would you say is the particular importance of the book for you?  And for your readers?

This week our guest on the podcast is Aleksei Simonov, president of the Glasnost Defence Foundation since 1991. Aleksei Simonov is a Soviet and Russian film director, writer, translator, human rights activist, teacher, journalist and editor. He was a member of the Presidential Council for Promoting Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights until 2012. In this podcast, Alexei Kirillovich talks about the enormous changes that have taken place in Russia since the last years of the Gorbachev era: the rise of glasnost, the hopes of the 1990s and the deterioration in freedom of expression in the Putin era, especially since 2012. He describes the work and experience of the Glasnost Defence Foundation, the impact of the law on so-called 'foreign agents' on civil society organisations and the difficulties faced by these organisations in obtaining funding. Aleksei Kirillovich also talks about two recent trials of journalists - Svetlana Prokopyeva and Ivan Safronov. 

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: As Aleksei Simonov once said, “I have not been burdened with government awards, but received several public awards of which I am proud.” And besides public awards, this wonderful man received what I would call universal love and respect. And by right. Last weekend Simon and I had the great pleasure to meet our mutual acquaintance, our friend Aleksei Kirillovich. The waves of the Internet brought the three of us together, although we were hundreds, even thousands of kilometres apart. I first heard the name of Aleksei Simonov many years ago when I saw the film ‘Otryad’ [The Squad] that was an important event at the beginning of perestroika. Later I got acquainted Aleksei Kirillovich in person and learned of his many talents: besides being a film director, he is also a writer, translator, human rights activist, teacher, journalist and editor. And, of course, he is president of the Glasnost Defence Foundation. Simon and I talked to Aleksei Kirillovich about all this, and now the recording of an interesting conversation is available on as our latest podcast.

Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn’t seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week’s events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. The podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. Music from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola is performed by Karolina Herrera.

This week our guest on the podcast is Georgy Satarov, president of the INDEM Foundation. Under President Yeltsin, Georgy Satarov was a member of the Presidential Council and, in 1993, he took part in the constitutional assembly on drafting a new constitution. We asked him to comment on the new Russian constitution recently adopted in Russia. During the conversation, we talk about the new Constitution in its historical and political context - and what it means for the protection of human rights in Russia. But this is not all we talked about, as you will hear. The podcast is in Russian. You can also hear these podcasts on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. Music from "Elegy Stravinsky for Solo Viola" is played by Caroline Herrera. The photo of Georgy Satarov is from Wikipedia.

This short podcast presents another opportunity to hear Tatyana Voltskaya reading her poems, including a poem dedicated to Yury Dmitriev.  The podcast is in Russian. You can also hear these podcasts on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. Music from "Elegy Stravinsky for Solo Viola" by Caroline Herrera.

This week our guest on the podcast is Tatyana Voltskaya, journalist and poet from St Petersburg, against whom a criminal case was opened in April for so-called "fake news". Among other things, Tatyana talks about this case, about the case of Svetlana Prokopyeva in Pskov, about freedom of speech in Russia, and reads her poems - including a poem about Yury Dmitriev.

Sergei Nikitin writes: I don't remember which poet wrote: "Our poems are taken seriously. They shoot you for poetry". The Journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva said in her final address to the court at her trial: "Repression is developing gradually. It is impossible to predict when restrictions on rights and persecution of dissent will turn into concentration camps and shootings". Yesterday Simon Cosgrove and I spent an hour in an interesting conversation with the poetess Tatiana Voltskaya. She is not only known for her poetry. She is a journalist who interviewed a St. Petersburg intensive care specialist. The doctor told Tatiana about the work of St. Petersburg hospitals, about the lack of doctors and ventilators during the coronavirus pandemic. Soon after the publication of the text about the terrible reality, the authorities showed an interest in the article and it soon became clear to her that the authorities - instead of helping the sick, doctors and hospitals - had decided to prosecute her for a criminal offence. The reason was the interview, 'People are being switched off from life support. An intensive care doctor speaks about the hellish conditions of work.' They decided to immediately apply the newly adopted Article 207.1 of the Criminal Code. We can, of course, only be glad that Tatyana Voltskaya is not going to be shot for her article. That her case has reportedly been reclassified from criminal to administrative. But, as Tatiana writes, "Captain Chernetsov opens his mouth, and his smooth teeth whiten" - this Leviathan, if he retreats, then a little. If he retreats, then in order to regroup his forces for evil, and again get his teeth into those who tell the truth, write poetry, or put on performances. They will be tormented by prosecutions, courts, fines. And only peaceful protest by civil society will be able to postpone the moment when persecution of dissent turns into concentration camps and shootings. Listen to our conversation with Tatiana Voltska and her wonderful podcast poetry. The podcast is in Russian. You can also hear these podcasts on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. Music from "Elegy Stravinsky for Solo Viola" by Caroline Herrera.

This week our guest in the podcast is Olga Sadovskaya from the Nizhny Novgorod human rights NGO, Committee against Torture. The Committee against Torture is headed by Igor Kaliypin. Olga Sadovskaya is the head of the department for international legal protection. Since its establishment in 2000, the Committee against Torture has undergone many changes but remains one of the leading human rights organizations in Russia and has never changed its focus, which is on working to prevent torture in police detention.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: "I heard about the Committee Against Torture for the first time many years ago: Amnesty International took part in the Mikheev Case, which Nizhny Novgorod human rights activists had taken up. It was while working on the Mikheev case that Nizhny Novgorod human rights defenders decided to establish a specialized organization - the Committee against Torture. On 26 June - the International Day of Support to Victims of Torture - activists from the Committee Against Torture and Amnesty International went out on joint public actions: in Moscow I had the chance to participate in several. That's when I met almost all the Committee's staff. Yesterday Simon Cosgrove and I spent a whole hour in conversation with Olga Sadovskaya, head of the department for international legal protection at the Committee against Torture. Alas, in all the years that have passed since the creation of the Committee Against Torture, the problem has become no less important. The Levada Center informs us that one in ten Russians has faced violence or the threat of violence from law enforcement agencies. And prosecutions of police officers, even in where violations have been publicised, are extremely rare. Even less often do they reach trial and sentencing. Igor Kalyapin told me of the sad 'records' of their practice: how many times the prosecutor's office has denied human rights defenders in certain cases! I admire the Committee's persistent pursuit of a noble cause: it helps victims to restore justice. Alas, the state seems to be less and less prepared to cooperate with human rights defenders, but they do not give up."

The podcast is in Russian. You can also hear these podcasts on Podcasts.com, Spotify and iTunes. Music from "Elegy Stravinsky for Solo Viola" by Caroline Herrera.

Translated from the organization's website (https://www.pytkam.net): "In 1998 the prosecutor's office for Nizhny Novgorod region responded to human rights defenders' complaints about torture by the police, in which, among other things, it stated: '"Facts" of the use of "torture" on the territory of the region have not been established.' This document served as the basis for the establishment of the Nizhny Novgorod Committee against Torture in 2000. Since then, the word 'torture' has been used by Nizhny Novgorod prosecutors without quotes, and the concept has become an established fact. Also without the quotes. Over time, the Committee against Torture began to work in other regions of Russia, using its own methodology for conducting public investigations. Thanks to the work of the organization's lawyers, by February 2020 147 law enforcement officers had been convicted for the very 'facts of torture,' the existence of which was denied by the Nizhny Novgorod prosecutor's office. In January 2015, the Ministry of Justice entered the Committee against Torture in the register of non-profit organizations acting as a foreign agent. Accordingly, on 1 August 2015, members of the organization decided to dissolve it. On 3 August 2015, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture began work. However, in January 2016 the Ministry of Justice also included this organization in the register of 'foreign agents.' In this connection, the members of the organization also decided to liquidate it. Currently, the organization works under its historical name of Committee against Torture without a legal entity.

This week our podcast is devoted to the historian and head of the branch of Memorial in Karelia, Yury Dmitriev. Dmitriev's name is especially closely connected to Sandarmokh. It was he who led the expedition there in 1997 that discovered the location of the mass burials of victims of Stalinist repression. Today Dmitriev remains in pre-trial detention as he awaits the outcome of his second trial on charges of child pornography. Our guests are Irina Flige, human rights defender and director of the Memorial Scientific Research Centre, Anatoly Razumov, a historian and expert on the Stalin-era repressions, and Andrea Gullotta, a lecturer at Glasgow University and expert on the life and culture of the Gulag.

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: Our conversation yesterday was extremely interesting with absolutely wonderful people: Irina Flige, director of the Memorial Scientific Research Centre (St. Petersburg); Anatoly Razumov, historian and head of the Returned Names centre (also St. Petersburg); and Andrea Gullotta, lecturer at the University of Glasgow (School of Modern Languages & Cultures) and author of Russia's Memory War on the Gulag. We talked for more than an hour about Yury Dmitriev and his work over many years to determine the burial sites of victims of political repression in Sandarmokh, Karelia. In yesterday's conversation we talked about how the Russian authorities are trying to interfere with the work of NGOs and independent researchers. About the fact that we see not only the process of rewriting history, but also the rewriting of victims' personalities. About the fact that there is a war of memory, and it is a hybrid war with different elements and aspects. Historical memory in Russia - according to Irina Flige - has hybrid forms: I remember this; I do not remember that. Andrea Gullotta spoke about his resarch into 'the war of memory.' He also noted the importance of international support for Yury Dmitriev. Historian Anatoli Razumov talked about Dmitriev as a historian. He related how they went to Sandormokh together 20 years ago. It is very important to do our utmost so that the memory of state atrocities does not go away. So that new generations know what happened, so that the history cannot be rewritten by either the Chekists who came to power, or the "specialists" serving them.

Yury Dmitriev (born 1956 in Petrozavodsk) is a human rights activist and local historian in Karelia who has worked since the early 1990s to locate the execution sites of Stalin's Terror and identify the victims. Dmitriev was arrested in December 2016 and charged with making pornographic images of his foster daughter. In April 2018 he was acquitted of the charges but sentenced to 30 months in prison for possession of a gun. In June 2018 a second criminal case was opened against him on the basis of 'newly discovered circumstances.' His second trial is ongoing and Dmitriev remains in pre-trial detention. 

This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also hear these podcasts on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera.

This week our podcast is devoted to the journalist Yury Shchekochikhin, who was born on June 9, 1950. He would have turned 70 this year. Our guests are the executive director of the Moscow PEN Centre, Nadezhda Azhgikhina, director of the Media Rights Protection Center Galina Arapova and chair of the Yabloko party Nikolai Rybakov. Our podcast consists of two parts. In the first part we will talk about Yury Shchekochikhin as a journalist in the context of his time - above all, as a journalist during the era of Gorbachev's perestroika. In the second half  we will consider the profession of journalist. What does it mean to be a journalist in today's world, in today's Russia?  

Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: The conversation that Simon Cosgrove and I had last Sunday was dedicated to the memory of Yury Shchekochikhin. On 9th June he would have turned 70. Yury Petrovich has not been with us now for 17 years. His was a strange death, that many suspect was a murder. It deprived us of the pleasure of admiring the talent of this brilliant journalist. Yesterday’s meeting on the Internet brought together the most interesting interlocutors: Nadezhda Azhgikhina, herself a wonderful journalist and widow of Yury Petrovich; Galina Arapova, director of the Mass Media Rights Centre, and Nikolay Rybakov, chair of the Yabloko party. I admit, I myself listened to our interlocutors with the greatest interest as memories of Yury Shchekochikhin melded smoothly into a discussion about the nature of journalism today. We remembered this wonderful man, an extraordinarily courageous journalist and politician. We talked about the current generation of journalists, about students, about the fate of journalism in our country – at both federal and regional levels. The hour flew by quickly, but we managed to talk about a great many things.

This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also hear these podcasts on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera. 

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Ashot Airapeyan, chair of the Moscow-based NGO the Centre for Intercultural and Interethnic Cooperation. Ashot relates how the organisation he had headed for 20 years since 1997, the Centre for Interethnic Cooperation, was closed down by the authorities in 2017. He also talks about the problems facing ethnic minorities in Russia and the work his organisation has done and is doing to ameliorate these problems. This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also hear these podcasts on Podcasts.com, Spotify and iTunes. The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Valentina Cherevatenko (pictured), chair and coordinator of the NGO Women of the Don Union, and chair of the board of the Women of the Don Foundation for the Promotion of Civil Society and Human Rights. Valentina Cherevatenko has led the work of Women of the Don since the organisation was set up in 1993. The organisation is based in Novocherkassk in Rostov region. Under her inspiring leadership, the organisation has engaged over the years in numerous activities, including providing assistance to those who suffered during the war in Chechnya (such as finding missing persons, rehabilitation of those who suffered from trauma, etc.), supporting the creation of dialogue with women in places of conflict, including Chechnya and Ukraine, promoting women's rights, combating domestic violence, improving relations between the police and the public, and providing free legal and other advice. This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also hear these podcasts on Podcasts.com, Spotify and iTunes. The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Sergei Krivenko (pictured), coordinator of the Citizen and Army initiative, a member of the board of the International Memorial Society and a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group. Sergei has been one of the leading proponents for the introduction and development of Alternative Civilian Service for conscripts that has been introduced in post-Soviet Russia. His organisation also works to protect the rights of conscripts and improve their conditions of service. Sergei also served two terms as a member of the Presidential Council on Human Rights and Civil Society. In this wide-ranging discussion, he discusses the history of ACS in Russia, the problems that have been overcome and that still remain. He also compares the situation in Russia with other countries such as Germany and Finland, and considers the current state of Russia's on-going military reform. This podcast is in the Russian language.

You can also hear these podcasts on Podcasts.com, Spotify and iTunes.

The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera.

My guest today is the author Maxim Osipov.  Following in the great Russian tradition of Chekhov and Bulgakov, he has pursued a career in medicine in parallel with that of a writer.  For his works of fiction – for the most part short stories that are sharp and witty commentaries on modern-day life in the Russian provinces – Maxim Osipov has won a number of literary prizes, and his plays have been staged as well as broadcast on the radio in Russia. Osipov’s works have been translated into 18 languages. His books published in English include the collections of short stories Rock, Paper, Scissors and Other Stories and Kilometer 101 (see my review in Rights in Russia from earlier this year).

Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Maxim Osipov signed several letters condemning Putin’s military operation.. He left Russia on 4 March 2023 and now lives in the Netherlands where he has launched a new quarterly literary journal,  The Fifth Wave. 

This recording was made on 11 August 2023.

My questions:

• You left Russia almost immediately after the Russian army invaded Ukraine. How did you come to take such a decision? How difficult was it for you?
• Before you left Russia you successfully combined the professions of cardiologist in Tarusa with that of a writer of short stories and other works of literature. How did these two roles complement one another?
• Do the current policies of Putin’s Russia allow you to be a writer? What is the duty or role of a Russian writer in today’s situation?
• What’s your reaction when accusations of imperialism and ‘colonial thinking’ are made against some of the classics of Russian literature? To what extent are they justified? Do you see attempts outside Russia to cancel Russian culture, as is claimed by Russian propaganda?
• In justifying the invasion of Ukraine, Putin set out his interpretation of history, claiming that Ukraine belongs to the ‘Russian world.’ To what extent does such use of history as justification have a place in the contemporary world?
• You have recently begun publication of a new journal. Tell us about it and your aims and aspirations for it.
• You have named your magazine The Fifth Wave. You wrote earlier that this wave of emigration is most similar to the first wave after 1917. What did you have in mind?
• Do you continue to write fiction in emigration? You no longer practice as a doctor, so where do you get your material from?
• How do you find life in emigration?
• Are there circumstances under which you would return to Russia?

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Maria Kanevskaya (pictured), a civil society activist based in St. Petersburg who is one of Russia's leading lawyers working in the field of right of association. She currently heads the First NGO Laboratory. Maria talks about the development over the last 20 years of the inhospitable environment for NGOs in Russia that exists today. She describes the quite devastating impact of the foreign agent law on the right of association, especially for human rights and environmental NGOs. However, she also describes a veritable 'explosion' in the creation of unregistered, informal groups in civil society that in many ways are taking the place of registered NGOs in what is apparently a reaction against the negative regulatory environment. She also discusses funding for civil society groups. In sum, Maria provides a detailed and considered picture of civil society organisations in Russia, based on her practice as a lawyer and leader of organisations that both study and support the 'third sector.' She also talks about the impact of Coronavirus in Russia. This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to this podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify or iTunes. The music is from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Elena Zhemkova (pictured), executive director of International Memorial. International Memorial is one of the oldest and most respected civil society organisations in Russia that is respected worldwide for its commitment to uncovering the truth about Soviet and Russian history and the protection of human rights. International Memorial was founded at the end of the 1980s and was headed for many years by Arseny Roginsky. In this wide-ranging podcast Elena Zhemkova talks about the essence of the work of Memorial, the legacy of Arseny Roginsky, the past and present of the organisation, and looks ahead to the future. This podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to this podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify or iTunes. The music is from Stravinsky’s Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Karinna Moskalenko (pictured), one of Russia's leading human rights lawyers. Karinna Moskalenko is founder and head of programmes at the Centre for International Protection, a network of groups that is based in Moscow and Strasbourg, and also has offices in Bishkek, Erevan and Kiev. The Centre specialises in bringing cases to the European Court of Human Rights. Karinna Moskalenko is a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, the Moscow Bar Association and the Moscow Lawyers' Committee for the Protection of Human Rights. She is also a Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists. She won the first ever case against the Russian Federation heard before the European Court of Human Rights and has acted as defence counsel in such high profile cases as those of Mikhail Khodorovsky. This podcast is in the Russian language.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Sergei Davidis (pictured), member of the board of Memorial Human Rights Centre and director of the Centre's programme on political prisoners. Memorial Human Rights Centre is one of the most authoritative human rights organisations in Russia. The programme headed by Sergei Davidis, among a range of activities in support of political prisoners, maintains a list of political prisoners in the Russian Federation. As of today, there are 314 names on that list. Sergei Davidis talks about how the term 'political prisoner' is defined, what can be done to secure the release of political prisoners, and what can be done to reduce the number of such prisoners in the future. This podcast is in the Russian language.  You can also hear these podcasts on SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes. The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, played here by Karolina Errera.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Sergei Poduzov (pictured left), co-chair of Chelovek i Zakon [Individual & the Law], a leading Russian human rights NGO founded in Yoshkar-Ola, capital of the republic of Mari El (located about 700 km east of Moscow). Since its foundation in 1999, Chelovek i Zakon has established itself as one of Russia's leading human rights groups with special expertise in the penitentiary and law enforcement systems, among other areas. This podcast is in the Russian language. 

You can also hear these podcasts SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Nadezhda Azhgikhina (pictured left), executive director of the Moscow PEN Centre. Nadezhda Azhgikina previously served two terms as vice-president of the European Federation of Journalists, and before that was a secretary of the Union of Journalists of Russia. Nadezhda Azhgikina’s career as a journalist began at Komsomolskaya pravda, where she worked during the 1980s – the years of perestroika and glasnost – before moving to Ogonek and later to Nezavisimaya gazeta. This podcast is in the Russian language. 

You can also hear these podcasts SoundCloud, Spotify and iTunes.

If this podcast does not play immediately on the podcast.com website, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right.

A summary of some of the week's events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. 

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Lev Ponomarev (pictured left), long-time head of For Human Rights, one of Russia's leading NGOs. In this podcast, Lev Ponomarev talks about the current state of his organisation, his recent arrest and injury as he took part in a peaceful picket outside the FSB headquarters on Lubyanka Square in Moscow, the proposed changes to the Constitution, the impact of the Coronavirus in Russia, and more generally about the main tasks facing human rights defenders in Russia today, the repressive measures against civil society groups and the right of association, the distinction between civil society activists and human rights defenders, between human rights activism and politics, and between different generations of activists. The recent interview with Sotavision to which Lev refers a couple of times during the podcast can be found here. A summary of some of the week's events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. This podcast is in the Russian language. 

If this podcast does not play immediately on the podcast.com website, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. You can also hear these podcasts on Spotify and iTunes.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Dmitry Makarov (pictured left), co-chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group and co-chair of the coordinating committee of the International Youth Human Rights Movement. The Moscow Helsinki Group is one of Russia's oldest and leading human rights organisations. It was originally set up in 1976 to monitor Soviet compliance with the Helsinki Accords and Soviet human rights abuses. Forced out of existence in the early 1980s, the Moscow Helsinki Group was revived in 1989 and continues to operate in Russia today. A summary of some of the week's events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. This podcast is in the Russian language. 

If this podcast does not play immediately on the podcast.com website, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. You can also hear these podcasts on Spotify and iTunes.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Galina Arapova (pictured left), director of the Mass Media Defence Centre, based in the city of Voronezh. The Mass Media Defence Centre is one of the leading NGOs and think tanks working on media law and the rights of journalists, bloggers and media outlets in Russia. For more information about the Mass Media Defence Centre, visit its website here. A summary of some of the week's events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. This podcast is in the Russian language.

If this podcast does not play immediately on the podcast.com website, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. You can also hear these podcasts on Spotify and iTunes.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Natalia Taubina, director of the Moscow-based Public Verdict Foundation (pictured left). Public Verdict is one of the leading human rights organisations in Russia. Its work focuses on abuses by public officials, not least torture and other violations by the police and prison authorities, including those at public events and demonstrations. For more information about Public Verdict, visit its website here. A summary of some of the week's events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. This podcast is in the Russian language.

If this podcast does not play immediately on the podcast.com website, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. You can also hear these podcasts on Spotify and iTunes.

Welcome to the ninth edition of our Russian-language podcast Then & Now with me, Teresa Cherfas. 

My guest today is Tetyana Sokolova, a professional midwife of 40 years at Mariupol Maternity Hospital No. 2, on the left bank of Mariupol near Azovstal, the industrial plant that became a centre of resistance against the Russian invaders. 

On 9 March, the city’s Maternity Hospital No. 3 was bombed by Russian aircraft and the whole world watched with horror pictures of the destroyed building and Ukrainian soldiers’ desperate attempts to save the life of a pregnant woman, as she lay on a stretcher among the ruins.

Three pregnant women from the rubble of Maternity Hospital No. 3 were brought to Tetyana and her team of midwives, 

For her work, her resilience and her bravery under the most difficult of conditions, Tetyana was awarded the international Anna Politkovskaya prize, named in honour of the murdered journalist.

My questions

1.  Where were you when you realised that Russia had invaded Ukraine? What was your reaction and what were your first thoughts?

2.  You went to work on 2 March.  Did you waver at all in your decision?  After all, it was less than a week since the war had started.  What made you to go to work that day?

3.  Tell us about the events of 9 March and how they impacted you personally.

4.  You have worked in Mariupol all your professional life - what made you become a midwife?

5. Could you ever have imagined that you would be an eyewitness to alleged war crimes?

6. How did you escape from Mariupol?

7. Where do you live now?

8. Do you cherish hopes of returning to Mariupol one day? 

10.  Were you surprised to be awarded the Anna Politkovskaya prize? Did you know about her before?

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Tatyana and Nikolai Shchur. Tatyana and Nikolai are human rights activists from the city of Snezhinsk in Chelyabinsk region. Tatyana and Nikolai began their careers as human rights defenders working on environmental issues but since the mid-1990s have focused largely on conditions of detention. For many years they have been leading members of the region's Public Oversight Commission. They also work to improve conditions of life for children without parents. A summary of the week's events in the sphere of human rights can be found on our website here. This podcast is in the Russian language.

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin are joined by Nadia Kutepova, a human rights activist from the closed city of Ozersk in Chelyabinsk region. Nadia was director of the human rights organisation Planet of Hopes in Ozersk, specialising in the protection of the rights of those who suffered from the radiation pollution from the Mayak atomic plant based in the city. Planet of Hopes was one of the first NGOs in Russia to be branded as a 'foreign agent' organisation. In 2015 Nadia was forced to leave Russia and now lives in France where she has received political asylum. A summary of the week's events in the sphere of human rights can be found on our website here. This podcast is in the Russian language.