EU urged to 'speak out' against rights abuses in Russia

The EU has been told it should take a "stronger stance" against Russia in cases of alleged human rights abuses.

Speaking in parliament, the leader of an opposition party in Russia cited the case of Oleg Orlov who was among dozens of people arrested in Moscow at the weekend demanding respect for the right to free assembly.

Orlov, a past winner of parliament's respected Sakharov prize for human rights, is the head of Memorial, a human rights organisation.

Addressing a hearing on Wednesday, Sergei Mitrokhin, leader of the Yabloko liberal party, said the incident was "normal" in his country.

He told the hearing, "The EU has a useful role to play here, specifically in using its influence to try and dissuade the Russian authorities from taking such strong-arm action.

"The aim should be to cultivate an environment where civil society can operate freely without fear of such action."

He added, "The key problem of Russia's political system is monopolism, which manifests itself in different ways.

"Russia's present political system is incompatible with modernisation but when our middle class is so deprived of rights there will not be any modernisation."

Mitrokhin was a member of the Russian duma (parliament) from 1994 to 2003, and deputy of the Moscow city duma for four years until 2009. He was speaking at a hearing, organised by the ALDE group, on "how the Kremlin thinks and what this means for Europe".

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