RUSSIAN BEAR CRUSH FREE SPEECH!

The Jamestown Foundation, one of the leading anti-terrorism and all together best organizations regarding the movement of former Soviet republics, held a conference in Washington DC a few weeks ago. So what happens?

RUSSIAN BEAR GET ANGRY! That’s right, a few days after the event, the Deputy Foreign Minister sent a formal diplomatic protest to the US Ambassador:

WASHINGTON, DC (4/29/06)–On April 14th, The Jamestown Foundation held a half-day conference entitled “Sadullaev’s Caucasian Front: Prospects for the Next Nalchik” at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Subsequent reports by state-run Russian media falsely alleged that the conference and its participants promoted terrorist attacks in the Russian Federation. Those false allegations later sparked a diplomatic protest by Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Kislyak to U.S. Ambassador William Burns in Moscow.

The Jamestown Foundation today released a brief summary of the conference proceedings in order to further refute mischaracterizations by Russian officials and state-owned media. The summary also provides policy-makers and the public with information concerning the growing separatist insurgency in the North Caucasus and its implications for both regional and international security. Copies of the summary are available in PDF format by clicking here.

It’s bad enough that Russia is slipping away from democracy, but to try to inhibit free speech on others soil in an attempt to stop what it views as anti-Russian free discourse is draconian.