Constitution
Russia’s forced referendum
Over the past month, the Kremlin’s proposed constitutional referendum has dominated the political agenda in Russia. The proposed changes, among other points, would allow President Vladimir Putin to stay in power past his current term. After Putin announced that the vote, previously set for April, would take place on 1 July, regional authorities began removing quarantine restrictions. It seems they’re not compatible with celebrations for the new edition of the constitution. Miraculously, the official statistics for coronavirus infections began to improve simultaneously, provoking concerns over falsification and tampering from some experts. Regardless, the coming plebiscite has won over public discussion and even taken over from the pandemic. The referendum is widely discussed online. More than 80% of Russian citizens knew about the vote two weeks in advance, polls say. OpenDemocracy, 27 June 2020
Russian Election Commission: Turnout Passes 28 Percent On Third Day Of Constitutional-Amendments Vote
Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) says overall turnout was nearly 28.5 percent on the third day of a weeklong vote for constitutional amendments that could pave the way for an extension of President Vladimir Putin’s rule by 12 years. Almost 31 million people have cast ballots, including remote online voting, CEC chairwoman Ella Pamfilova said on June 28. Pamfilova also said that the CEC has received 113 complaints of irregularities. Some 110.5 million people are eligible to cast ballots in the nationwide vote, which ends on July 1. RFE/RL, 28 June 2020
‘A Historic Crime’: Russian State TV Anchor Quits Over Promotion Of Draft Constitutional Amendments
A state television journalist and news moderator in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk has resigned, saying that he could no longer “participate in the madness” of promoting the proposed constitutional amendments that, among other things, could enable Russian President Vladimir Putin to remain in office until 2036. RFE/RL, 29 June 2020
Court refusals to follow Constitutional Court opinion prevent consolidation of Constitution primacy
ST. PETERSBURG, June 29 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – Refusals on the part of general jurisdiction courts to follow opinions of Russia’s Constitutional Court or administer differently interpreted law are to be considered as noncompliance with the Court’s decisions, what prevents consolidation of Russia’s Constitution primacy and violates the right to judicial protection, according to a recent Constitutional Court’s judgment. RAPSI, 29 June 2020
Russia’s Presidential Council denies reports of voting violations
Nearly all of the reports of electoral violations collected by the voter protection movement “Golos” during the plebiscite on constitutional amendments are false, says Alexander Brod, a member of Russia’s Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights and co-chair of the association “Civil Control.” “Our observers, experts, and human rights defenders state that 92 percent of the reported complaints constitute fake information,” Brod said. The Golos movement’s preliminary report on the early voting period (June 25–June 30) states that as of 1:00 p.m., Moscow time, on June 30, they had received 1,587 reports, of which 682 contained evidence of voting violations. Brod insisted that “going by Golos’s logic and their style of work,” one can assume that the number of complaints about violations could reach 5,000. Meduza, 30 June 2020
Journalists uncover potential voter coercion among Moscow subway workers
The leaders of the Moscow Metro’s trade union are allegedly forcing subway workers to vote in Russia’s constitutional plebiscite, reports the BBC Russian Service. This was revealed by BBC correspondent Pyotr Kozlov, who was accidentally added to an internal group chat for the Moscow subway’s trade union, after he was given an MTS brand SIM card at work in 2018. The corresponding phone number previously belonged to the head of the primary trade union organization for Moscow’s Sviblovo metro depot. Meduza, 30 June 2020
Apparent Ballot Stuffer Is Caught Red-Handed (And Blue-Gloved) At Russian Polling Station
An election observer declared that “all is very good” when it came to voting at polling station No. 568 in the Russian city of Saransk, with everything well-organized and no violations seen. But eagle-eyed viewers of Mordovian Public Television noticed something amiss while watching the state channel’s coverage of the nationwide vote on constitutional amendments that open the door to President Vladimir Putin remaining in office until 2036. Ten seconds into a clip of the June 29 news segment posted on the VK page Saransk Wall Of Shame, and just as a correspondent’s voice-over talks about the fairness of the process, a blue-gloved hand is seen stuffing multiple ballots into a sealed ballot box. RFE/RL, 1 July 2020
Crimean Tatar political prisoners punished for refusing to take part in Russia’s ’forever Putin referendum’
Several Crimean Tatar prisoners and their cellmates have been threatened and punished because they refused to take part in the pseudo ‘referendum’ on amendments to Russia’s Constitution. The amendments are aimed both at enabling Vladimir Putin to be President for another 10 years and, theoretically, at preventing moves to return Crimea which Russia is illegally occupying. Nobody is in any doubt as to ‘the result’, which can be easily rigged. The only difficulty lies in obtaining frequency broadly commensurate with the fiddled results. Over recent days there have been the familiar reports of public sector and educational workers, and others, being forced to vote on threat of dismissal, with others also bribed or threatened “with difficulties” if they don’t take part. Human Rights in Ukraine, 1 July 2020
European politicians to legitimize constitutional changes in Russia
Kremlin-friendly foreign politicians, journalists, lobbyists, and activists have once again been invited to praise the disputed “all-Russian voting” on the constitutional amendments proposed by President Vladimir Putin. According to those amendments, Putin will be allowed to run for another two terms and to stay in power until 2036. EPDE, 2 July 2020
Critics say Russian vote that could allow Putin to rule until 2036 was rigged
The Kremlin and its supporters have won a controversial vote to amend the constitution and reset Vladimir Putin’s term limits, potentially allowing him to rule as president until 2036. Critics have challenged the result, saying that the voting was rigged to produce a blow-out win. The ad hoc vote, which did not fulfil legal criteria to be classed as a referendum, saw 77.92% of voters endorse constitutional amendments, with 21.26% against the changes, after all the ballots were counted. Turnout was nearly 68%, the election commission said. The Guardian, 2 July 2020
Putin Signs Decree On Constitutional Amendments, Changes Take Effect July 4
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that will bring into force a sweeping package of constitutional amendments that among other things open a path for him to stay in power until 2036, if he chooses to take part in two more presidential elections. According to the decree, signed on July 3, the amendments will take effect on July 4. “The citizens of Russia have made their choice, and in accordance with this decision, I have signed a decree to officially publish the constitution to include the amendments,” Putin said during a televised meeting with officials. RFE/RL, 3 July 2020
Election Monitors Find ‘Unprecedented’ Levels Of Fraud In Russian Vote On Extending Putin’s Rule
MOSCOW — The day President Vladimir Putin declared victory in a vote on constitutional changes that pave the way for him to rule Russia until 2036, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it a “triumphal referendum on confidence” in the former KGB officer, who has already spent over two decades in power. Official results of the weeklong vote that ended July 1 showed that 77.92 percent of Russian voters endorsed the constitutional changes, with only 21.26 against. Turnout was 68 percent, the Central Election Commission said. […] Claims of fraud quickly began mounting. The most damning came from Sergei Shpilkin, a prominent electoral researcher who uses data from Russia’s Central Election Commission during voting cycles to plot tallies reported at polling stations throughout the country and detect evidence of inflated turnout. During the presidential election of 2018, which Putin won handily, Shpilkin saw that the data showed numerous polling stations reporting turnout percentages ending in 0 or 5, suggesting, per his widely cited analysis, that almost 10 million votes were falsified at the ballot box. This time, Shpilkin said, that figure was an “unprecedented” 22.4 million. RFE/RL, 3 July 2020
Freedom of expression
Dozens Detained in Russia For Protesting Prosecution of Feminist Activist
Police in Moscow detained 40 people last weekend for holding peaceful protests in solidarity with a young woman who is facing up to six years in prison for running a feminist blog. On June 9, authorities in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, in Russia’s far east, officially charged Yulia Tsvetkova with “pornography dissemination.” Tsvetkova runs a social media group that features artwork depicting vulvas, celebrating female bodies, and protesting taboos around female anatomy and menstruation. Tsvetkova was put under house arrest in November 2019 and released in March – subject to a travel ban – pending investigation. Her indictment three months later has sparked a vigorous campaign defending her, including protests, social media flash mobs that has gained significant media support. Human Rights Watch, 30 June 2020
Journalist Assaulted at Polling Station During Vote on Putin’s Rule
Russian journalist and photographer David Frenkel was injured in an attack at a St. Petersburg polling station during Russia’s vote on controversial constitutional reforms, the Mediazona news website where he works reported Tuesday. Video footage showed Frenkel screaming in pain as two police officers knocked him to the ground in a crowded hallway after a brief altercation. Mediazona said the officers attempted to kick out Frenkel, who had arrived after an election monitor complained that they were being forced out as well. The Moscow Times, 30 June 2020
Investigation Launched Into Allegations Russian Police Broke Journalist’s Arm At Polling Station
Russian investigators have launched a preliminary probe into allegations that two police officers broke a journalist’s arm at a polling station in St. Petersburg during a vote to change the constitution. David Frenkel, a reporter and photographer for the independent outlet Mediazona, underwent surgery due to his injury on June 30, Mediazona said. Video of the incident posted on social media shows two police officers tackling Frenkel to the ground. A cracking noise can be heard, followed by Frenkel screaming out in pain. RFE/RL, 1 July 2020
Russian journalists attacked, harassed while covering vote for Putin to remain in power
Vilnius, Lithuania, July 1, 2020 – Russian authorities should ensure that journalists are able to cover the country’s ongoing vote freely, and should refrain from harassing and detaining members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Since June 21, authorities have attacked, arrested, or harassed at least five journalists in the lead-up to today’s plebiscite on amendments to the country’s constitution, according to news reports. If the referendum passes, President Vladimir Putin would be able to stay in power through 2036; early voting on the measure began on June 25, according to the website of the country’s parliament. CPJ, 1 July 2020
‘After I Fell, He Hit Me…And It Snaps’: Journalist Tells How Russian Police Broke His Collarbone As He Covered Vote On Constitution
Journalist David Frenkel was surfing social media on June 30, looking for reports of suspicious activity surrounding the ongoing voting in a national plebiscite on Kremlin-backed constitutional amendments that, among other things, would enable President Vladimir Putin to seek two more terms and possibly remain in the Kremlin until 2036. “I saw a report about the voting station at Fontanka 22,” he told RFE/RL, referring to an address in the center of St. Petersburg. “They were purportedly trying to remove a member of the polling-station commission, which according to the law can only be done with a court order. Since this was a serious violation, I naturally went there to find out what was happening.” About half an hour later, Frenkel, who reports for the independent MediaZona website, was lying on the polling-station floor, writhing in agony. Video posted on social media showed how a police officer attempted forcibly to remove him, audibly breaking a bone in the process. RFE/RL, 3 July 2020
Russia Seeks 6 Years Jail for Journalist in ‘Terror Case’
Russian prosecutors on Friday demanded that a journalist be sentenced to six years in prison for allegedly justifying terrorism in a case that has drawn outrage from supporters and rights groups. Svetlana Prokopyeva, who is based in the northwestern city of Pskov and works for RFE/RL’s Russian Service as a freelance contributor, was charged with publicly justifying terrorism after she wrote a commentary about a bombing attack in 2018. The Moscow Times, 3 July 2020
Independent Experts Prevented From Evaluating Mental Health Of Shaman Seeking To Drive Putin Out
YAKUTSK, Russia — The Supreme Court of the Siberian region of Yakutia has excluded independent experts from taking part in evaluation of the mental health of a local shaman, who gained notoriety for claiming to have a plan to remove Russian President Vladimir Putin from power. Olga Timofeyeva, a lawyer for Aleksandr Gabyshev, told RFE/RL that the court’s July 3 ruling annulled its own decision made just the day before to allow independent psychiatrists to evaluate her client. RFE/RL, 3 July 2020
Right of Assembly
Four arrested during rally opposing constitutional amendments in St. Petersburg
At least four people were arrested in St. Petersburg during a “Stop the Amendments” rally against changes to the Russian constitution, reports OVD-Info. More than 100 people reportedly attended the protest. Three of the detainees — Vladimir Shipitsyn, Alexey Arkhipov, and Pavel Ivankin — were formally arrested because of another protest action, OVD-Info says. Meduza, 1 July 2020
Another $47k recovered from organizers of illegal Moscow rally in favor of police
MOSCOW, July 3 (RAPSI) – Organizers of the illegal opposition rally of July 27, 2019, including Alexey Navalny and Ilya Yashin, on Friday were jointly ordered to pay another 3.3 million rubles ($47,000) to the Moscow Main Directorate of the Interior Ministry, RAPSI reported from the Simonovsky District Court of Moscow. The court granted the claim in part. The plaintiff sought to collect about 4.3 million rubles (about $70,000) from opposition figures Alexey Navalny, Ilya Yashin, Lyubov Sobol, Vladimir Milov, Georgy Alburov, Alexander Solovyev and Oleg Stepanov. RAPSI, 3 July 2020
Opposition figures ordered to pay over $65k to Moscow police over illegal rally
MOSCOW, July 3 (RAPSI) – Moscow’s Simonovsky District Court on Friday recovered over 4.6 million rubles (over $65,000) jointly from organizers of the unauthorized opposition rally held on August 3, 2019, Lyubov Sobol and Georgy Alburov, in favor of the Moscow Main Directorate of the Interior Ministry, RAPSI reported from the courtroom. The court granted the suit in part. Police demanded over 6 million rubles (over $85,000) from the opposition figures. According to the plaintiff, the said funds were spent for security upgrade during the illegal rally in central Moscow and purchase of combustive and lubricating materials for police. The defendants objected to the claim believing that its amount is excessive and unproven. RAPSI, 3 July 2020
Freedom of conscience
Prosecutors in Russia Object to Parole for Jehovah’s Witness
Everything seemed to be in place for Dennis Christensen to leave a Russian prison in early July. On June 23, a judge paroled him, after he served half of a 6-year sentence, while also ordering him to pay a 400,00 ruble (US$5,714) fine. Mr. Christensen was indefensibly prosecuted on charges of “extremism” because of the way he practices religion as a Jehovah’s Witness. Today, Christensen’s lawyer, Anton Bogdanov, confirmed to Human Rights Watch that the prosecutor’s office has appealed the grant of parole, arguing Christensen allegedly violated prison rules. He will remain in custody until a court hearing on the appeal, which could be as late as August. Human Rights Watch, 1 July 2020
Russian Prosecutors Object To Parole For Danish Jehovah’s Witness
Prosecutors in Russia have appealed the parole granted by a court last week to a Danish member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who has been imprisoned since 2017, his lawyer says. A judge in southwestern Russia paroled Dennis Christensen on June 23 after he served half of a six-year sentence on extremism charges that have been condemned by rights groups in Russia and abroad. Christensen was also ordered to pay a fine of 400,000 rubles ($5,800) in place of serving the rest of his sentence. RFE/RL, 1 July 2020
Russia: Travesty of justice: Danish Jehovah’s Witness set for release may stay in custody
Reports emerged today that Dennis Christensen, a prisoner of conscience and Jehovah’s Witness from Denmark, has been put into punitive confinement in a Russian penal colony for an alleged minor violation of prison rules. Responding to the news which leaves the prospects of Christensen’s release looking grim, Amnesty International’s Russia Researcher, Natalia Prilutskaya, said: “The Russian authorities clearly have an axe to grind with Dennis Christensen, who is imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of religion. Days after the court opened the way for his early release, state prosecutors are doing all they can to keep him behind bars. This sends a chilling message to dozens of other Jehovah’s Witnesses being persecuted throughout Russia.” Amnesty International, 2 July 2020
RUSSIAN FEDERATION: FURTHER INFORMATION: JEHOVAH’S WITNESS’ RELEASE APPEALED: DENNIS CHRISTENSEN
On 25 June, the prosecution appealed the court decision of 23 June to release Jehovah’s Witness Dennis Christensen, a Danish national living in Russia. On 26 June, the penal colony authorities put him into punitive confinement for alleged minor violations of prison rules, further threatening prospects of his release. Dennis Christensen is a prisoner of conscience persecuted solely for his faith and must be released immediately and unconditionally. Amnesty International, 3 July 2020
LGBT rights
‘People were being hunted’ Watch a clip from the new ‘HBO’ documentary about LGBTQ evacuations from Russia’s Chechnya
On June 30, HBO released David France’s new documentary film Welcome to Chechnya to U.S. viewers. It tells the story of Moscow activists David Isteyev and Olga Baranova, as they work to secretly evacuate LGBTQ people from Russia’s Chechnya, taking them to temporary shelters in Moscow or abroad. In order to maintain the anonymity of the film’s main subjects, the director changed their voices, used pseudonyms, and — in a first for a documentary filmmaking — hid their faces with the faces of other people (a kind of deepfake in reverse). The documentary itself was shot on a cheap Sony camera — during some of the filming in Chechnya, the director pretended to be a tourist. To get the most dangerous shots, they used a GoPro or a cellphone camera. The documentary’s world premiere took place at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Whether or not the film will be shown in Russia remains unknown. Meduza shares a clip from Welcome to Chechnya, which demonstrates how the activists organized the evacuations. Meduza, 30 June 2020
Deepfake Technology Enters the Documentary World
A film about persecuted gays and lesbians in Chechnya uses digital manipulation to guard their identities without losing their humanity. The step raises familiar questions about nonfiction movies. When the documentarian David France decided to chronicle the anti-gay and lesbian purges that had unleashed a wave of fear and violence in Chechnya, he needed more than just a camera. The New York Times, 1 July 2020
EHRAC and HRW intervene in Chechnya LGBTI+ crackdown case
EHRAC and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have filed a third-party intervention to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) arguing that a case concerning the alleged abduction and torture of a gay man during a crackdown on LGBTI+ people should be considered within the context of the “persistent and systemic failure by Russian authorities to conduct effective investigations in Chechnya” as required by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). EHRAC, 2 July 2020
Russian LGBTQ activist charged with distributing pornography faces new allegations of ‘gay propaganda’
Law enforcement have filed a new administrative protocol against artist and LGBTQ rights activist Yulia Tsvetkova for “promoting non-traditional sexual relationships among minors” — a violation of Russia’s so-called “gay propaganda law.” Tsvetkova, who is from the Far Eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, is already facing up to six years in prison for the criminal distribution of pornography, over drawings she posted on social media. According to OVD-Info, the protocol was established because of materials published in an LGBTQ group on the social networking site VKontakte, called “The Last Supper” (“Taynaya vecherya —LGBTKIAPP na-Amure | 18”). Meduza, 2 July 2020
Putin Mocks U.S. Embassy Rainbow Flag
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday mocked a rainbow LGBT pride flag hung from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, suggesting it reflected on the orientation of the diplomats. During a televised video conference, a lawmaker told Putin that the U.S. Embassy had hung a rainbow flag on its facade for the first time to celebrate Pride month in June. “Who works in this building?” Putin asked the speaker, Senator Alexei Pushkov, to be told “Americans.” “Let them celebrate. They’ve shown a certain something about the people who work there,” he added with a smile. The Moscow Times, 3 July 2020
Submission to the European Court of Human Rights in A.M. v. Russia
1. These written submissions are made by Human Rights Watch pursuant to article 36 § 2 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the European Convention on Human Rights, ECHR) following the leave granted by the President of the Section under rule 44 § 3 of the Rules of the Court by letter dated 12 March 2020. […] Conclusion: 36. International standards and this Court’s jurisprudence makes clear that decisions on visitation, custody, and other aspects of family life should take into account the individual children’s best interests as a primary consideration and should afford considerable protection for children’s rights to preserve their family relations and to be free from arbitrary interference with their family. 37. In the same way that it is improper to deny custody, limit visitation, or infringe on other aspects of family life on the basis of a parent’s sexual orientation, states may not restrict a parent’s contact with their children simply because the parent is transgender. Protection of “family values” does not justify differences in treatment based on gender identity because protection of the family cannot be premised on an understanding of “family values” that values some families less than others. Human Rights Watch, 3 July 2020
Discrimination against Women
Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on Russia
76th session We write in advance of the 76th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (“CEDAW Committee” or “this Committee”) relating to the Russian Federation’s compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (“CEDAW” or “the Convention”). This submission focuses on Russia’s inadequate efforts to address pervasive domestic violence, its practices that deny or delay safe abortion, the adverse consequences of its anti-gay “propaganda” laws, and its failure to protect education during armed conflict. Human Rights Watch, 3 July 2020
Crimea
Russia begins ‘trial’ of Crimean Tatar leader for crossing a non-existent state border
The ‘trial’ has (almost) begun in occupied Crimea of veteran Crimean Tatar leader and Ukrainian MP, Mustafa Dzhemilev. Even by Russia’s standards, this judicial farce is surreal in its lawlessness, and appropriately enough the scheduled preliminary hearing on 25 June 2020 lasted only minutes, due to gross infringements by the de facto prosecutor. 76-year-old Dzhemilev, a world-renowned former Soviet political prisoner, who has twice been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, is accused by Russia of having illegally crossed a non-existent ‘Russian state border’ in trying to return to his homeland, two months after it was invaded and annexed by Russia. If that were not enough, he is also facing charges pertaining to alleged actions that far precede Russia’s annexation. All of this is under the control of Magomed Farmanovich Magamedov, from the Russian Investigative Committee’s ‘department for particularly important cases’. Human Rights in Ukraine, 3 July 2020
Police violence
ECtHR appoints compensation to relatives of Dagestani who died after torture by law enforcers
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has obliged Russia to pay 98,000 euros of compensation to the relatives of Marat Satybalov, a resident of Dagestan, who died after being beaten up at some power body. The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in 2010, Luiza Khaigaeva, a resident of the village of Aksai, Khasavyurt District, turned to Vladimir Lukin, the then Russian Ombudsman, asking him to punish the law enforcers who had beaten her husband to death. Caucasian Knot, 1 July 2020
Dagestan: law enforcers accused of violence left under house arrest
The Supreme Court (SC) of Dagestan has upheld the decision of the first-instance court, which sent the two law enforcers detained for extorting and forcing Yulduz Kurashova, a local resident, to self-incriminate, under house arrest. After the decision of the first-instance about the house arrest of the law enforcers, the woman had to move to another residence, her advocate has stated. The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that the above law enforcers were suspected of abuse of powers after Yulduz Kurashova had complained about coercion to self-incrimination and extortion. The victim stated that after the initiation of the case against law enforcers, she began receiving threats. On June 12, the court sent both operative agents under house arrest. Caucasian Knot, 1 July 2020
Domestic Violence
Chechnya’s Leader Hinders Justice for Domestic Violence Victim
Two weeks ago, Madina Umaeva, 23, died in Russia’s Chechen Republic under suspicious circumstances. She had previously complained to family members about her husband repeatedly beating her. On the day she died, neighbors heard screams from her house and said Madina’s mother-in-law chased away a neighbor who saw Madina lying on the ground in the yard, claiming it was “nothing but theatrics.” Human Rights Watch, 26 June 2020
Human Rights Education
How can we talk about human rights with our neighbours, students and relatives?
In May 2020, Amnesty International presented the results of the Human Rights Dialogue for Russia, a joint project implemented by the Eastern Europe and Central Asia office with Amnesty International Netherlands. The project’s aim is to present human rights to the widest possible range of potential participants through a conversation about values and a respectful exchange of views. “When we discovered that people in the Netherlands were very interested in discussing certain social issues like discrimination and refugees, we wanted to do two things. Firstly, to encourage people to look at those kinds of issues from a human rights perspective. We wanted them to ‘put their human rights glasses’ on, so to speak. And secondly, we wanted to facilitate these discussions, so that people within the so-called ‘silent majority’ felt safe and secure enough to speak out.” Kirsja Oudshoorn, Senior Officer for Human Rights Education at Amnesty Netherlands. Amnesty International, 26 June 2020
Ramzan Kadyrov
Bad Neighbors: Chechnya’s Kadyrov Tied To Moscow Apartment Where Head Of Nord-Ost Attackers Lived
Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov and his family have been tied to an undeclared Moscow apartment in the same building where the head of a group of Chechen terrorists lived and planned the deadly “Nord-Ost” hostage-taking at a Moscow theater in October 2002, an opposition-backed media outlet has reported. Open Media, an online investigative resource funded by Kremlin foe and former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, reported on June 29 that Moscow property records show the Kadyrov family owns a 153-square-meter apartment on Veyernaya Street, in a leafy section of Moscow, with an estimated market value of about 50 million rubles ($713,000). RFE/RL, 30 June 2020
