Thomas Bindesbøll Larsen, Chairman of the Danish Support Committee for Chechnya, has published a press release about the official visit of Dmitry Medvedev, President of Russian Federation, in Denmark.

Putin’s Wars and State Terrorism Continue Under Medvedev

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev is in Denmark on an official visit. Western leaders paint Medvedev as a moderate and reform-minded politician, in contrast to his predecessor, Vladimir Putin. But reality is different from this whitewash. For where is the so-called “progress” from Medvedev’s two years in power?

– The bloody Russian occupation and state terrorism in Chechnya continue, lead by Moscow’s puppet in Grozny, Ramzan Kadyrov. Additionally to the 250,000 Chechens who have already been killed in the Russian wars of aggression against Chechnya, every single day demands more victims. The murders, arbitrary detentions, torture and disappearances continue.

– Torture continues unabatedly in all of Russia.

– Political liquidations continue and the murders aren’t solved. Neither the killers of Anna Politkovskaya nor those of Natalya Estemirova have thus been found and sentenced.

– The political opposition is suppressed. Human rights organizations are openly persecuted and harassed.

– Russian war criminals go free from punishment. To the contrary, several of them have been promoted, like notorious General Vladimir Shamanov.

In short: After more than 10 years of war in Chechnya, there still is total impunity for those who commit acts of Russian state terror, as well as for those in charge.

In the field of foreign politics, too, Medvedev’s Russia has committed serious breaches of international law, most prominently with its attack on Georgia in 2008 and the continuing Russian occupation of Georgian territory, in open violation of the most fundamental principles of the UN Charta.

We demand from the Danish government that it meets its humanitarian and democratic obligations and delivers a clear and unequivocal denunciation of these facts to President Medvedev.

27.04.2010

Thomas Bindesbøll Larsen
Historian, Chairman of the Danish Support Committee for Chechnya