Paul Goble
Staunton, Oct. 18 – Kremlin-linked media had a field day
with the decision of the Russian Community Council of the USA to “temporarily”
suspend its activities because of FBI investigations of its activities, and
Russian coverage of this action was picked up by many American media outlets
without much consideration of what in fact the Council is about.
But the Russian-Language America for Democracy in Russia
organization has released a statement suggesting that the US authorities are
entirely justified in investigating the Council given its links to the Russian
foreign ministry and that those who support democracy should back those
efforts.
Below is the organization’s statement, reproduced here
because it did not feature in Western media reports about this case (facebook.com/4demrussiaus/posts/228012566100963):
We, the representatives of the
Russian-language diaspora in more than 15 US cities that advocate for freedom
and democracy in Russia, declare the following regarding the suspension of the
US KSORS activities and the allegations of political persecution by the US
authorities of the Russian diaspora:
Thousands of our activists in different US
cities - from Boston to Miami, from Chicago to Houston, from Seattle to Los
Angeles - law-abiding Russians living in the US and protesting in support of
Navalny and other political prisoners , on pickets of solidarity with
Belarusians in their fight for freedom, on action in memory of the victims of
the Second World War, reading the names of those repressed by the Soviet
authorities and other actions have never been subjected to unreasonable
persecution by the American authorities. Instead, the police and local
authorities have assisted us in holding actions, protected and created
conditions for comfortable and free public expression of opinion;
We claim that Russians in the United
States, who do not violate the law and value the rule of law, are not subjected
to baseless persecution, unlike Russians in Russia, who are persecuted in front
of the world for political and religious views, hold back There are some at
rallies and single pickets, there are some for reposts on social networks, for
reading the Bible or Quran, in support of opposition politicians or for
critical opinion against the existing government. Russians in the United States
are more protected than in their own country, as witnessed by numerous villas
and apartments owned by people connected to Russian authorities in the United
States;
The result of the US KSORS state, which
occurred in 2014-2015, was the degradation of this informal organization, which
was essentially a unit of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation - similar to how it
degrades everything regarding the regime of Vladimir Putin, which is at the in
power for more than 20 years;
It is important for us to continue
consolidation in the USA communities of adequate Russians as alternatives to
pro-Kremlin structures, which will probably be mimicry and reborn under new
names. The image of the Russians we represent in the USA is Russians for
freedom, democracy, the rule of law, the division of power, for a dynamically
developing Russia integrated into the world community.
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