Members of the HRC were unable to agree on a common position regarding actions in support of Navalny. And they released two statements at once

Members of the Human Rights Council under the President of Russia failed to agree on a unified position on detentions at protests in support of Alexei Navalny. Because of this, two statements were published on behalf of the HRC - one on the council's website, and another one on the Ekho Moskvy website.

A statement on the Echo website, which was published on the morning of February 5, called on the authorities to simplify the coordination of actions and stop using special equipment during arrests.

A statement on the HRC website a few hours later noted that some of the protesters used violence, and also that "the choice of a place for protest actions in Moscow on Lubyanskaya and Manezhnaya squares was confrontational in nature." In both versions, members of the Human Rights Council demanded to conduct checks on the facts of violation of the rights of journalists and participants in the actions, as well as the detention of bystanders.

The head of the Human Rights Council, Valery Fadeev, in an interview with Interfax, acknowledged the existence of disagreements between its members, calling them "fundamental." He explained, in particular, that not everyone in the Council agreed that "the people took to the streets, and the authorities spoke to them in the language of batons and stun guns." He called the publication on the Echo website incorrect "from an ethical point of view."

We asked our colleagues to give time and prepare a general version, but, apparently, someone could not stand it, and for some reason at night posted this version of the statement on the radio station's website. For what reasons, I don't know. But perhaps they are.

One of the members of the HRC who supported the version for Echo, Nikolai Svanidze , noted that only 23 of the 48 members of the Council, that is, less than half of its composition, signed it, so this is not considered the official position of the entire organization.

• After the actions on January 23, Fadeev stated that he did not see any violations in harsh detentions. He emphasized that “we should talk about the illegality of the actions, and not about detentions,” and also demanded an investigation into the involvement of teenagers in rallies.