News
Publish date: October 20, 1998
Written by: Roger Grøndalen
News
OSLO (Bellona Web): – The charges against Aleksandr Niktin are fabricated, said Per J.Zimmer of Amnesty International during a demonstration outside theRussian embassy in Oslo this afternoon (October 20).
The demonstrants, representing Amnesty and the health product chain BodyShop, handed over a letter addressed to President Boris Jeltsin in whichthey demanded that all charges against Nikitin should be withdrawnimmediately.
The letter was received by the assisting military attaché at theembassy, but nobody of the embassy staff were willing to comment theNikitin-case or talk to the Amnesty representatives.
– Amnesty has been strongly engaged in this case, and we will continueto be so. We have an observer in St. Petersburg who will follow thetrial closely – and if Nikitin is convicted he will immediately beadopted as a prisoner of conscience of the Amnesty International, saidZimmer.
At the same time Amnesty arranged a similar demonstration outside theRussian embassy in the Netherlands.
An accident aboard numerous Volgoneft oil tankers in the Kerch in mid December clearly show what can happen to aged ships when they are operated in bad weather—and when economic and military objectives are prioritized over the lives of crews and environmental safety.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.
A survey of events in the field of nuclear and radiation safety relating to Russia and Ukraine.
A visit last week by Vladimir Putin and a Kremlin entourage to Astana, Kazakhstan sought in part to put Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, on good footing with local officials.