In Yekaterinburg, the «Yeltsin Center» excluded the human rights activist and chairman of the international society «Memorial» Yan Rachinsky from the organizing committee of the international conference «History of Stalinism», reported RusNews.
Rachinsky was invited to the conference, which will be held from June 19 to 22. However, shortly before the event, his name disappeared from the list of participants. He is also no longer mentioned as a member of the organizing committee.
On May 23, the Ministry of Justice recognized Rachinsky as a «foreign agent», stating that he «spread false information» about the actions of the authorities, opposed the war in Ukraine, and interacted with «foreign agents» and «undesirable» organizations.
The human rights center «Memorial» was recognized as a «foreign agent» by the Russian authorities in 2014, and the «International Memorial» in 2016. On December 28, 2021, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation liquidated the international public organization «Memorial».
Earlier, Putin's envoy Artem Zhoga promised to make the «Yeltsin Center» «more patriotic». According to Zhoga, the venue is «good», despite the fact that it was previously, as he put it, «used by the country's enemies» and «liberally minded people came there».
* Recognized as «foreign agents» in Russia.