Human Rights in Russia week-ending 11 September 2020 - with Andrei Kovalev

Today on the podcast our guest is Andrei Anatolyevich Kovalev. During his distinguished career, he has been a member of the Institute of the US and Canada of the USSR Academy of Sciences and then of the Diplomatic Academy. He worked for the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was a member of the secretariat of the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, worked on the staff of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, and also on the staff of the Office of the Federal Human Rights Ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin. While working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, Andrei Kovalev was engaged in many matters of vital importance for human rights: abolishing the repressive use of psychiatry, releasing political prisoners, drafting a number of laws that paved the way to liberalising foreign travel and freedom of religion. Andrei Kovalev is the author of several important publications, including 'France at the Crossroads of World Politics' (International Relations, Moscow, 1983), 'Behind the Scenes of Russian Politics' (Ibid. - Verlag, Stuttgart, 2012) and a number of articles in the journals International Life, World Economy and International Relations, USA: Economics, Politics, Ideology, The Observer, as well as the newspapers Izvestia, Novaya Gazeta and Komsomolskaya Pravda. He now lives in Brussels.

Sergei Nikitin writes: "Andrei Anatolievich Kovalyov was yesterday our guest on the podcast. He talked about the extraordinarily interesting time he spent working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR under Shevardnadze in 1985 - 1991, where his task was to bring Soviet legislation into line with the international obligations of the USSR. Kovalev spent a significant part of his diplomatic career working on democratic reforms and human rights in the USSR and Russia. His diplomatic service continued until 2004, when he became an advisor to the Federal Human Rights Ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin, at the invitation of Lukin himself. Andrei Kovalev does not have the highest level of opinion of Lukin as a defender of human rights, based on his personal experience. Of course, we also talked about the current situation. "I see no limits to the depths to which those in power may go," Andrei Anatolyevich told us yesterday about Putin and his entourage: "The Kremlin has no brakes". In sum, we had a very interesting conversation with a professional and extremely perceptive man. I look forward to reading his book "Russia's Dead End : An Insider's Testimony from Gorbachev to Putin", and I recommend our podcast to everyone."

The podcast is in the Russian language. You can also listen to this podcast via our website (https://rightsinrussia.org/podcasts) on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/rightsinrussia) and on Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo...ei/id1495261418).

The music is from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, performed by Karolina Herrera.