NEWS,27.03.2013

Russian authorities search NGOs' offices

Russian authorities searched the Moscow offices of Human Rights Watch and three other prominent advocacy groups on Wednesday, part of a wave of hundreds of inspections that activists say is a campaign to silence criticism of President Vladimir Putin. Since returning to the Kremlin in May, Putin has tightened controls on non-governmental organisations (NGOs), requiring those with foreign funding to register as "foreign agents" a term echoing, for some, Stalin-era political repressions and Cold War spying.The Kremlin says it is working to prevent foreign governments meddling in Russian politics, but activists see the visits by prosecutors and other authorities ranging from tax officials to fire inspectors as harassment."This is part of a massive, unprecedented in its scale wave of inspections of NGOs throughout Russia... covering hundreds and hundreds of groups," said Rachel Denber, deputy director of the Europe and Central Asia Division of Human Rights Watch."Most immediately it is an effort to intimidate. More broadly it's part of an effort to discredit ideas about human rights and civil society, to somehow tar them as foreign and suspect," she said by telephone from New York, where Human Rights Watch is based.The US has said it is very concerned about the inspections and European Union Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton on Tuesday described what she called the "raids" on NGOs as part of a trend that was deeply troubling.Germany complained to Russia on Tuesday about the inspections, including visits to two German think-tanks, saying the action could harm bilateral ties already strained by the Cyprus crisis.Federal migration officials visited the offices on Wednesday of a rights group run by Svetlana Gannushkina, one of Russia's most prominent campaigners to help refugees and migrants, Gannushkina said."I am a member of the state commission for migration politics. We are not working against our government I'm afraid that our government is working against our people," Gannushkina.Gannushkina said tax and migration service officers showed up unannounced and demanded passports of employees and visitors who did not look Russian."This is undoubtedly done to apply pressure, it's undoubtedly done to put pressure on civil society."Denber said a tax officer and three prosecutorial officials were polite but spent hours in the Human Rights Watch office in an unannounced inspection, demanding copies of registration papers and a slew of other documents. They were unarmed.'Foreign agents'Authorities on Wednesday also visited offices of anti-corruption group Transparency International Russia and Agora, a human rights organisation.On Monday, the Moscow offices Amnesty International were searched in checks the human rights advocacy group said showed "the menacing atmosphere for civil society" in Russia.The Kremlin denies cracking down on critics, but Putin's own advisory council on human rights has asked Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika to explain the wave of searches.Pavel Chikhov, the head of Agora, said the searches are aimed at gathering evidence of activities that would oblige them to register as "foreign agents" under the law.Russia's leading rights organisations, including the country's oldest rights group Memorial, election-monitoring body Golos and the Moscow Helsinki Group, have refused to register in defiance of the law.The penalties for failing to comply include six months' suspension without a court order and, for individuals, up to three years in jail.Putin, facing the biggest protests of his 13-year rule last year, accused foreign governments, including the United States, of meddling in Russia's domestic politics, and pro-Kremlin media said anti-Putin demonstrators were paid by foreigners to take to the streets.Last autumn, Moscow expelled the US Agency for International Development (USAid), saying it had tried to influence elections.

Kerry proposes US-EU free trade zone

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday a proposed US-EU free trade zone could help Europe emerge from the economic crisis and played down fears it would hit the farm sector."What is important is that ... we move rapidly to have a profound impact on the rest of the world," Kerry told French business leaders, including the heads of Air Liquide, Thales and GE France, at a meeting at the US ambassador's Paris residence."The EU and the United States together represent one-third of the total of all the goods and services sold in the world and we represent more than 50% of the total global economic output of the world," he said.US President Barack Obama last week notified Congress that the government would launch trade talks with the European Union aimed at forging the world's largest free-trade area.The Obama administration said it intends to launch negotiations with the EU "no earlier than 90 days" after the notification.13 million jobsKerry said the proposed free trade area could help Europe emerge from the current economic crisis."I believe as does President Obama that this may be one the best ways of helping Europe to break out of this cycle, have growth," Kerry said.The trade and investment ties support 13 million jobs on both sides of the Atlantic, according to the US Trade Representative.Kerry referred to concerns over agricultural products, saying: "I know the fears in some places. I believe personally than we can work through the differences."I understand the geographical components of certain products that are produced in France ... and I value that. Roquefort is Roquefort for a reason and Champagne is Champagne for a reason. We get it. There are to be ways to protect things that are geographically identified".

N Korea cuts military hotline with South

North Korea severed its military hotline with South Korea on Wednesday, breaking the last direct communication link between the two countries at a time of heightened military tensions.The decision coincided with an announcement that the North's top political leadership would meet in the next few days to discuss an unspecified "important issue" and make a "drastic turn".The hotline move was relayed by a senior North Korean military official to his South Korean counterpart just before the link was severed."Under the situation where a war may break out any moment, there is no need to keep up North-South military communications," the official was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency."From now, the North-South military communications will be cut off," he said.Several weeks ago North Korea severed the Red Cross hotline that had been used for government-to-government communications in the absence of diplomatic relations.Unleashing ‘all-out war’Severing the military hotline could affect operations at the Seoul-funded Kaesong industrial complex just north of the border because it was used to organise movements of people and vehicles in and out.The industrial estate established in 2004 as a symbol of cross-border co-operation has remained operational despite repeated crises in relations."We are negotiating with the North to prevent any operational issues," an official from the Kaesong management committee said, adding the North has yet to block movements of people to and from Kaesong.The South's unification ministry urged the North to retract its action, saying it's not good for "stable operation" of the complex where more than 50 000 North Koreans work at small labour-intensive South Korean plants.Cutting the hotline was the latest in a series of threats and actions that have raised tensions on the Korean peninsula since the North's long-range rocket launch in December and its nuclear test last month.Both events triggered UN sanctions that infuriated Pyongyang, which has spent the past month issuing increasingly bellicose statements about unleashing an "all-out war".Current situation volatileEarlier on Wednesday the North announced an imminent meeting of its ruling party politburo and launched a scathing attack on South Korea's new president, Park Geun-Hye.A North Korean state committee accused Park of slander and provocation after she made a speech warning the North that failure to abandon its nuclear weapons programme would result in its collapse."If she keeps to the road of confrontation... she will meet a miserable ruin," it said.In Seoul, some analysts suggested the North was fast running out of threats and targets for its invective as it sought to bully the international community into negotiating on Pyongyang's terms."They are upping the rhetorical ante in every possible way, but the international community is not reacting as it had hoped," said Cho Han-Bum, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.Cho said the coming politburo meeting would probably seek to keep "the momentum going" through some symbolic gesture."I envisage a resolution that further raises the alarm, like declaring a top alert for the entire nation beyond the military," he said.Although North Korea is a past master of brinkmanship, there are concerns in South Korea and beyond that the current situation is so volatile that one accidental step could escalate into serious conflict.On Tuesday the North's military put its "strategic" rocket units on combat alert, with a fresh threat to strike targets on the US mainland, Hawaii and Guam, as well as South Korea.Pentagon spokesperson George Little said US forces were ready to respond to "any contingency". Japan, which hosts a number of US bases, said its government was "on full alert".The US and South Korean militaries signed a new pact last week, providing for a joint military response to even low-level provocation by the North.