Russians should disavow themselves of the indigenous peoples elimination policy

“The aim of initiative is defence of human rights, defence of peoples in modern-day Russian empire, which is aggressor state and demonstrates complete absence of values, common for all civilized countries”, said Mykola Knyazhytskyi, chairman of Ukrainian parliamentary committee on culture and spirituality, on March 6 during briefing in press-centre of Glavkom Information and Analysis Agency.

Yesterday activists in Tatarstan celebrated release of Danis Safarghali, well-known leader of Altyn Urda (Tatar patriotic front), who spent 864 days in Russian prison. However already today in Kazan young activist Batyrkhan Agzamov, member of Azatliq Union of Tatar Youth was prosecuted for incitement to hatred on ethnic basis (article 20.3.1 of Code of Administrative Offences of Russian Federation). Agzamov was sent to jail for 5 days. 

On March 1, Free Idel-Ural civic movement organized picketing of diplomatic establishments of Russian Federation in Great Britain, Ukraine, Poland, Finland and USA. Activists gathered with demands to stop oppressions of freedom of speech in internet, to abolish censorship in mass-media and to release political prisoners which are being held in Russian prisons for political reasons.

Free Idel-Ural civic movement appealed to Mr. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister for foreign affairs of Turkey. In their open letter activists point out numerous examples of violation of civic, national and cultural rights of Idel-Ural native peoples and call Turkey to come forward as a mediator in dialog with Moscow.

Everyone who lived through the end of the Gorbachev era will remember that the Soviet president sought to raise the status of the autonomous republics of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to weaken it and thus make it more difficult for the Russian Federation and indeed the other non-Russian union republics to defend their interests and pursue their goals.