The investigation of Russian environmentalist Alexander Nikitin on false charges of divulging state secrets has not yet been completed because the FSB (the present-day KGB) has refused to turn over vital documents for inspection by Nikitin and his attorneys. Such actions have undermined Russian Prime Minister Alexander Chernomyrdin's assurances that Nikitin would soon be allowed to leave Russia. The case, due to lack of sufficient evidence, was supposed to have been concluded three weeks ago and awaited only Nikitin's reply to be officially resolved. However, when Nikitin received files related to the investigation, he found that several documents had been removed. He has refused to continue the process until those documents are returned. To date, FSB officials have refused to comply with this demand.

On Monday, October 20, Russian Prime Minister Chernomyrdin told Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien that Nikitin-whose report for the Norwegian Bellona Foundation detailed the environmental hazards created by Russia's nuclear-powered Northern Fleet-will be allowed to immigrate to Canada. Chernomyrdin assured Chretien, who had inquired about Nikitin during his visit to Moscow, that he would be allowed to leave "as soon as the investigation is over." Yet Chernomyrdin did not specify when the inquest would be wrapped up.

Genya Intrator, the Toronto-based chair of UCSJ's Prisoners Commission, spoke to Nikitin's wife Tatyana on October 21 about the family's current situation. Tatyana reported that Russian authorities confiscated her and her daughter's passports when Alexander was arrested in 1996 and they have not been able to get them returned. They have also been denied medical services and delivery of parcels and registered mail, and the daughter has been barred from attending the state college. Their apartment is searched whenever they go out, and Tatyana fears for her daughter's safety.

Furthermore, the Nikitins have been denied propiska (citizen's registration), without which they cannot receive many public services. "We live between heaven and earth," Tatyana told Intrator. "We are not Russian citizens any longer but we have no other citizenship. Here, wherever I go, people ask for the passport."

UCSJ National Director Micah H. Naftalin called for the phony charges against Nikitin to be formally dismissed and that the Russian government should allow the Nikitins to emigrate. "The whole handling of the Nikitin case makes us question who really controls Russia: the people or the security apparatus?" Naftalin stated. "Nikitin used information from public documents to report on the serious environmental hazards the Northern Fleet poses to Russia's waters. Rather than admit to their mistakes, the military, with the help of the secret police, has persecuted him and his family for disclosing this vital information. If Russia is to become a democracy, Alexander Nikitin must be exonerated of these bogus charges, once and for all."

[HOME] [ACT] [CONNECT] [JOIN] [ABOUT] [SEARCH]