Photo:
RIA Novosti
The official representative of Russian foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova on the briefing did not answer the question of the Finnish journalist about the situation with the persecution of homosexuals in Chechnya. The transcript published on the website of the Russian Ministry.
The journalist asked me if Zakharova, statements of the Chechen authorities that Chechnya there are no homosexuals and how this situation affect the relations between Russia and the EU.
Foreign Ministry spokesman did not answer the question, but asked the name and surname of the journalist – ERKA Mikone.
Then she turned her face into the camera and appealed to the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov and asked him to arrange for a “journalist’s fact-finding trip to Chechnya, where he could find the answers to all his questions”.
She stressed that it is not a question for the official representative of the Russian foreign Ministry. The journalist said that Moscow “has interviewed fled Chechnya people” and had “already formed my opinion from what I’ve heard”.
Zakharov also noted that the foreign Ministry is ready to help the journalist with the trip, and Kadyrov, she said, the journalist “will not refuse”.
Earlier, the Commissioner for human rights in Russia Tatyana Moskalkova said that until not received any requests from the victims from Chechnya with a request to assist them.
In April, “Novaya Gazeta” published a material that in Chechnya detained about 100 people suspected of homosexuality. The newspaper claimed to have been killed at least three people.
HRW, the report asks the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and the government to condemn the RAID on gays and to ensure a thorough and impartial investigation of allegations of violence.