Members of Putin's rights council say no grounds for Ukraine invasion
Source: Reuters
MOSCOW, March 2 (Reuters) - Members of President Vladimir Putin's human rights council urged him on Sunday not to invade Ukraine, saying threats faced by Russians there were far from severe enough to warrant sending in troops.
A statement signed by 27 members of the advisory body reflected deep concern among Russian liberals at the prospect of Kremlin aggression against Russia's neighbor.
Putin stunned the world and sparked outrage in the West by securing parliament's consent on Saturday to send armed forces into Ukraine to protect Russian citizens who the Kremlin says are under threat from militant supporters of the government installed after the pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich was toppled.
Those concerns are overblown, members of the Presidential Council on the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights said in the statement.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/02/ukraine-crisis-russia-council-idUSL6N0LZ0UB20140302
blackspade
(10,056 posts)iandhr
(6,852 posts)Did I read those words correctly or am I going blind?
christx30
(6,241 posts)"Tommy Chong's Anti-marijuana council"
amandabeech
(9,893 posts)The sense of the article is that war is an ugly thing, and that it had ought not to be the first option when difficulties, or perceived difficulties, arise.
Too bad Putin seldom listens to this body.
I guess they should be lucky that Putin hasn't sent them all to Siberia in place of Pussy Riot.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)Cha
(295,899 posts)okaawhatever
(9,453 posts)last year of 15 "real" civil rights defenders over the election last year. An election they thought was "skewed" to favor the ruling party.
From the announcement of Putin's new picks for the Human Rights Council:
"But also noteworthy are the names that are missing, including Lyudmila Alekseyeva, the 85-year-old figurehead of Russias human rights movement.
Alekseyeva is one of 15 prominent figures who left the presidential council in the wake of the disputed December parliamentary elections that were criticized for being skewed to favor the United Russia ruling party.
In a presidential decree on November 12, Putin officially struck Alekseyeva from the roster, along with commentator Dmitry Oreshkin, Yelena Panfilova of Transparency International Moscow, and Svetlana Gannushkina, head of the Civic Assistance organization, as well as a handful of others who tended their resignations this year."
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/66172
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)How did Putin allow that to happen?
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)DallasNE
(7,392 posts)I know that there are neo-Nazi elements in the ranks of those that toppled Yanukovich but I have not been able to determine what percent of those in Parliament are neo-Nazi members. Depending on that answer, we may be facing a lose-lose situation over there. How do we funnel humanitarian aid to Ukraine without it falling into the hands of the neo-Nazi faction. I don't think the desire for a pro-western government overcomes the opposition to helping with the formation of a Nazi like government. Indeed, I would go slow on aid until after the promised May elections to select a new, permanent leader.