Human Rights

Accessibility links Skip to main content [#content] Skip to main Navigation Skip to Search Search Search toggle search input toggle main navigation Search Search Search Home Economy Human Rights Military Politics About this project More Previous Next 0 Breaking News Previous Next 0 Live Human Rights Calendar Select year 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 Select month January February March April May June July August September October November December Select day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Lt. General: Russian Military Jets Not Involved in Decisive Assaults on Aleppo Sergei Rudskoy Chief of the Russian General Staff Main “All of this is achieved by Syrian ground troops…Russian aviation in the Aleppo area has not been used since October 18.” Source: Press conference (timecode 0:42 -0:47), December 9, 2016 FALSE Monitors say Russian military conducted air campaigns One of Russia’s top military officials said on December 9, 2016, that Russian military jets, which had been conducting military assaults on rebel forces in Syria on behalf of the regime, had not bombed the Aleppo area since October 18. Independent monitors say they have tallies showing otherwise. Read more... Yanukovych Fled Ukraine With Only 'Hand Luggage' Viktor Yanukovych former President of Ukraine "As for some fantastic money they wrote about a lot, there is not a cent of my money in any bank in the world to date. I have never had and have no accounts...I never took out anything, except for my personal belongings in hand luggage." Source: Interfax news agency, Nov. 25, 2016 Likely False ...video shows Yanukovych fleeing with more than hand luggage. However, video evidence shows that Yanukovych fled with many bags in two helicopters. CCTV footage from Yanukovych’s expansive estate in Kyiv shows that he began to remove truckloads of expensive items from Kyiv several days before he ultimately fled the country. Ukrainian Prosecutors accuse the ousted leader of having stolen perhaps tens of billions of dollars from Ukraine, and he currently lives an extravagant lifestyle in Russia. Read more... Does the EU Discriminate Against Crimeans on Visas, as Russian Official Alleges? Aleksey Meshkov Russian Deputy Foreign Minister “ Today, I raised the question about the visa genocide of Crimean residents, and I raised it in a very harsh way because it is not right to make 2.5 million people hostages of their (European) political objectives and demand that they change the citizenship that they had once accepted. This is nonsense.” Source: RT, Nov. 30, 2016. Misleading EU says it does not restrict Crimeans but will not recognize post-annexation Russian passports. The European Union says Crimeans still holding Ukrainian passports are visa eligible. But because it does not recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the EU will not give visas to Crimeans who received Russian passports after annexation. Read more... Jailed Russian Activist Dadin 'Not Tortured' Valeriya Masimenko Deputy Director of Federal Corrections Service "According to the results of the inspection, unlawful uses of physical force on the convict [Ildar Dadin], causing harm to his health, were not confirmed….Ildar Dadin is simply a very talented imitator with stunning artistry and an amazing imagination." Source: Argumenty i fakty, Nov. 28, 2016 Likely False ...Prison officials ultimately admitted force was used against Dadin, but refused to call it torture. But when human rights lawyers visited him, they found cuts on his wrist consistent with his story. Other prisoners confirmed to them that he had been beaten and described similar treatment to others. Prison investigators ultimately confirmed that guards had used forced on Dadin, but maintained it was lawful. Read more... Russia Has World’s ‘Only Constitution Banning Censorship' Stanislav Govorukhin Russian lawmaker and film director "[Russia has] the only constitution in the word stating that any kind of censorship is forbidden." Source: State-run RIA Novosti news agency, November 17, 2016 False ...lots of countries' constitutions ban censorship This is not even close to true, and Govorukhin need look no further than other nations of the former Soviet Union for constitutions expression banning censorship. The OSCE noted in 2010 that only Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia were the only former Soviet republics not to have censorship bans. Read more... Russia’s Ambassador Distorts UN Official’s Comments on Aleppo Bombings Vitaliy Churkin Russian Ambassador to the UN “He (a UN official) spoke of eastern Aleppo as though it were under continual attack from chemical weapons. I would ask him to produce a single fact about this.” Source: UN Security Council meeting records. Oct. 26, (pages 8-23) false ...no chemcial weapons mentioned. After a UN official’s presentation on the humanitarian impact of Syrian and Russian bombings on Aleppo, Russia’s envoy said the official spoke as though Aleppo was "under continual attack from chemical weapons.” But the official never mentioned chemical weapons. Read more... Did NATO Kill 'Thousands' During 1999 Campaign Against Former Yugoslavia? Sergei Lavrov Russian Foreign Minister “I will recall that the aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was associated with attacks on a huge number of civilian facilities… Thousands of those killed, several hundred children out of them..." Source: Russia's state-run TASS news agency quoting Rossia 1 TV, Oct. 31, 2016 Likely False ...hundreds not thousands died. At the time, Yugoslav officials said much the same thing. However, a detailed accounted by Yugoslavia’s Foreign Ministry listed around 400 civilians killed. And in one of the most authoritative studies of the NATO action, Human Rights Watch estimated some 500 were killed. So Lavrov’s claim of “thousands” seems way off the mark. Read more... Putin: Crimeans Decided for Themselves to Join Russia Vladimir Putin Russian President “ We know how many active and engaged people there are in Crimea and Sevastopol, people who take an active stand and are genuinely involved in the fate of their region and the fate of Russia as a whole. The best evidence of this was the events of Spring 2014, when people took their future into their own hands and decided themselves how and where they want to live.” Source: official Kremlin website, Oct. 26, 2016 False ...Russia led annexation The "active stand" by the "engaged people" of Crimea through referendum is how Russia annexed the peninsula. But that stand came after Russian military intervention and a referendum that drew worldwide condemnation for being illegitimate. Read more... Crimean-Tatar Language Gets Official Status 'For First Time' Valentina Matviyenko speaker Russia’s upper house of parliament "It was with the return [of Crimea] to the motherland that the Crimean-Tatar language, for the first time, was granted [official] state status on par with -- I reiterate -- on par with Russian." Source: Parlamentskaya Gazeta, the official newspaper of the Russian parliament True ...but that's little solace for many Crimean Tatars Matviyenko is correct that the Crimean-Tatar language was accorded the status of a “state” language for the first time in Crimea after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula. But many Crimean Tatars -- a majority of whom opposed Russia’s takeover of the peninsula -- say this recognition remains largely symbolic, and is outweighed by what many consider systematic repression against the minority ethnic group. Read more... Tabloid Editor Says Russian Orphans Were ‘Easily Sold’ to Americans Vladimir Sungorkin Editor in Chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper “The children were being sold to Americans, cheerfully and effortlessly, no problem at all. There it was like: you give us money, we provide you with a child.” Source: Echo Moskvy False …foreign adoption process arduous Prominent editor Vladimir Sungorkin said that Russians have a far tougher time adopting orphans than Americans had before Russia banned the process in 2012. According to the Russian and U.S. government websites, the process for Americans was difficult. Read more... Putin Says Parliamentary Election Unbiased and Legitimate Vladimir Putin Russian President “…the overwhelming majority of participants in the election process, the observers and, most importantly, the Russian people saw the election as unbiased and legitimate.” Source: Kremlin Likely False …observers see massive fraud Putin called the September election of the Russian Parliament free and fair. Independent observers and analysts say that more than 12 million votes were forged. Read more... Load more Back to top Follow Us Info About this project Terms of Use Contact Us © 2017 POLYGRAPH.info All Rights Reserved. XS SM MD LG