Rights activists skeptical about Interior Ministry reshuffles

Interfax

Leading Russian human rights activists believe the recent reshuffles in the leadership of the Interior Ministry announced by President Dmitry Medvedev are not a sign of a thorough reform of the Russian law enforcement institutions.

“This looks more like an outbreak of some intra-clan rivalry rather than a real reform of the Interior Ministry,” Lev Ponomaryov, the leader of the organization For Human Rights, told Interfax on Saturday in commenting on the reshuffles.

“I am sure that a real reform should begin with the interior minister,” Ponomaryov said.

“If we talk about the problem of corruption within the Interior Ministry, we see it in the Magnitsky case [Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died at a detention facility]. We have seen so far that nobody has been punished in the Magnitsky case,” he said.

Moscow Helsinki Group head Lyudmila Alexeyeva told Interfax on Saturday that she did not like it that nobody explained to the public why some deputy interior ministers had been replaced by others.

“I don’t know all these new chiefs and don’t know whether they are better or worse than the old ones,” she said.

“We don’t know why some were dismissed and others appointed. To me, and not only to me, all this is just a nameless leapfrog game. Minister Nurgaliyev is preserving the ministry style, and any serious changes could happen only if he is sacked,” Alexeyeva said.

It was reported earlier on Saturday that Medvedev had relieved three deputy interior ministers of their duties and appointed new officials in the Interior Ministry.

In particular, Medvedev discharged First Deputy Interior Minister Mikhail Sukhodolsky, Deputy Interior Minister Yevgeny Shkolov, and Deputy Interior Minister and head of the Interior Ministry’s Investigative Committee Alexei Anichin.

Medvedev also appointed Sukhodolsky head of the Interior Ministry’s department for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region instead of Vladislav Piotrovsky, who had earlier tendered his resignation.

The president also appointed Lt. Gen. Alexander Gorovoi the first deputy interior minister, Maj. Gen. Sergei Bulavin a state secretary and deputy interior minister, and Lt. Gen. Valery Kozhokar a deputy interior minister and head of the Interior Ministry’s Investigative Department.

In addition, Sergei Gerasimov, Igor Alyoshin, Alexander Smirny, and Viktor Kiryanov have been appointed deputy interior ministers. быстрые займы на карту займ на карту https://zp-pdl.com/get-quick-online-payday-loan-now.php https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-in-america.php unshaven girls