Chronicle of current events

November 11–15

Paul McCartney wrote an open letter to President Putin, asking to free the arrested activists Greenpeace

November 12, Tuesday

The editor -in -chief of the Khabarovsk newspaper "Young Far East" Alexander Suturin became a suspect in the case of a violation of the law on the prohibition of propaganda of non -traditional sexual relations. The reason for the claims against the journalist was an interview with Alexander Ermoshkin-a teacher and gay activist published in the newspaper. Suturin faces a fine of 100 to 200 thousand rubles. The newspaper can be fined by a million rubles or suspend its activities for up to 90 days.

November 13, Wednesday

The head of the “For Human Rights” movement, Lev Ponomarev received a letter from the presidential administration - a response to the appeal of human rights activists regarding the amnesty regarding the “Prisoners of Bolotnaya”, Greenpeace activists, convicted under economic articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. “Amnesties are not subject to accused of crimes that pose an increased danger to society,” the letter from the administration says. The defendants in such crimes are precisely the accused of “riots” and Greenpeace activists, as well as businessmen and entrepreneurs passing under the so -called “rubber” article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“fraud”).

November 14, Thursday

It became known that the musician Paul McCartney wrote an open letter to President Putin, in which he asked to free the Arctic Sunrise arrested on the icebreaker. “Greenpeace, which I know, is not an anti -Russian organization. First of all, these are completely peaceful people. The main principle that defines their life is non -violence, ”writes musician to Vladimir Putin. At the end of this message, McCartney expresses the hope that the addressee will listen to his arguments: “It would be great if this misunderstanding was resolved and the protesters returned to their families just for Christmas.”

November 15, Friday

The State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill, according to which special services will receive additional powers to ensure the country's information security. According to the law, the FSB receives the right to conduct operational-search measures to obtain information about events or actions that create threats to information security. The Deputy Director of the FSB Yuri Gorbunov told the deputies that the security forces already have these powers partially, we are talking about their systematization.

Photo: Philip Brown/Reuters