BEWILDERED AND AMUSED: Liberal Hero Wonders How He Made It on the New US Sanctions List
We're coming back to or, better said, continuing our topic and talking about the "Kremlin List," published by the US authorities. The head of the Russian Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, Mikhail Fedotov, is among others on this list.
He's now talking live with our studio.
- Hello, Mr. Fedotov!
- Hello!
- How would you comment on your presence on this list? Do you have any ideas of the criteria of its compilation?
- I have a very clear idea of how it was compiled. In my case, the principle was very simple. This principle is called the phonebook. One doesn't have to be a great analyst to copy names from the phonebook. Those who compiled the list took the phonebook of the presidential administration and carefully wrote down all the presidential assistants, advisors, and heads of the administration. In my mind, this approach is strange if not primitive. It has no logic, apart from the phonebook logic. I'm quite puzzled because of this and treat the situation with humor.
- Mr. Fedotov, did I get it right that you aren't expecting any restrictive measures against yourself in the near future?
- Well, I simply don't understand what they can be in my case. I don't have an American passport or a green card, my American visa expired long ago. I don't have any accounts or property abroad. As I was told, they're now planning to closely watch my activities, and they're welcome, it's absolutely public. It's always been and will be public. So, I hope that my activities will be closely watched not only by them but, first of all, my fellow citizens.
- Mr. Fedotov, in your opinion, at what level is the Russian-US human rights dialog now?
- I'll say, there's no level. The bottom is left for us to hit. And this list is a new stage, a new step in worsening the Russia-US relations. Human rights are the first victim in any crisis. They're the least protected, They're the first victims. The worse the relations are between our countries, the worse it is for our citizens. I think it's very bad.
So, I want to remind you that I met with many American ambassadors, and to each of them, I suggested stimulating bilateral relations and cooperation between the US and Russian public organizations. which are engaged in their own sphere, some of them deal with women rights protection, some of them deal with domestic violence, some of them deal with minorities' discrimination, some of them help the incapacitated, and so on. There are such organizations both in Russia and the US. What prevents us from establishing direct contacts, holding events together, exchanging information, technologies, and experience? Nothing. Except for one thing. This crisis in the Russia-US relations stopped it all and interrupted it all. The sooner it ends, the sooner we'll start working normally. We're wasting time. We're spending time, money, and efforts on worsening the crisis. We need to do everything to end it soon and engage in real work. We need to solve a lot of common problems. In the human rights realm, we're all students, both they and us. Let's learn together to obey and protect human rights, to guarantee human rights. That's our common task. We have common problems and we must solve them, instead of spoiling each other's lives.
- Mr. Fedotov, thank you for your comment.
We talked to the head of the Russian Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, Mikhail Fedotov.