Russia.KI

**Russia: **  **Primary Documents:** [|__http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/12/09/letter-international-olympic-committee-update-human-rights-concerns-related-sochi-ga__] __Explanation__-This is a copy of a letter written by the Human Rights Watch to Russia's chief of staff, Christophe de Kepper, on the International Olympic Committee. It is in regards the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, and the Human Rights Watch's concern for the negative impact these Olympic games may have on the human environment surrounding. For example, the Human Rights Watch came to Sochi and talked with many residents in the area. One of the major concerns was notifying the residents of expropriation, and the lack of fair compensation for their loss. For many of the residents, their homes are key to their livelihood because they either raise crops or run bed-and-breakfast hotels on their property. Without their homes, they have lost a huge source of income and have felt they're are being pressured into making decisions about compensation packages that wouldn't be offering a fair amount of money in return. [|__http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100581.htm__] __Explanation__- This is taken directly from the United States Department of State; a document listing several human rights violations that have been taking place in Russia. Some violations mentioned (in second paragraph) are the killings, torture, abuse, violence, and brutal humiliation performed security forces, hazing in armed forces, and harsh and life-threatening conditions in prisons. **Artifacts:** [|__http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/12/30/russia-khodorkovsky-sentence-spotlights-unfair-trial__] __Explanation__- This shows how the court is not following justice in some sentences, such as the trial for Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. It is believed by Human Rights Watch that the charges against these men are based solely off of politics, and that there were flaws in the charges against them for theft and embezzlement. [|__http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1065066.html__] __Explanation__-In 2006, there were reports of Russia still facing severe human rights violations in Chechnya. Although some had said that huge progress has been made over the years, there are still many reports on murder, enforced disappearances, torture, hostage-taking, and arbitrary detention. [|__http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/10/AR2006051002162.html__] __Explanation__-This article describes the major fall back in human rights policies throughout the Russian government. During the time this article was written(2006), there were questions on whether George Bush, our country's president at that time, should be attending the scheduled G-8 meeting with the Russian president because of growing patterns of abuse by government officials, as well as the empowerment of authoritarians and the isolation of human rights defenders.