Gentlemen, the new james of ukip, diane we are waiting to bring your Donald Trumps comments live at this luncheon in houston to speakers included john jerry coffee come a prisoner of war in vietnam for seven years. We will bring you as much of this as we can until donald trump arrives. Please remain standing for the playing of the National Anthem and invocation given by the colonel. The official party for todays ceremony, the honorable ashton carter, the 25th secretary of defense, and francisco was the next city to become a sanctuary city in 1989. They called it the city of refuge ordinance. Didnt that sound nice . Then come in your city the same year became a sanctuary city with executive order 124. A part new York City Police officers from calling the inf directly and telling them about illegal aliens they encountered. Byt ordinance was reissued mayor bloomberg and the blase of deblasio. As they prevent Police Officers from asking a person if he is an illegal alien, even if all the evidence once to the fact that talking to illegal aliens. San francisco prohibits the Police Department from even picking up the phone and calling ice and saying we have an illegal alien criminal here, we. Ould like you to help us i hope no one in this audience is offended if i use the term illegal alien. That is the term found in federal law. In federal law, the term is a legal alien. But the politically correct left is so upset if you use the accurate term, they want us to use the alternative, undocumented immigrant. As an attorney, i will use that term because that term is incorrect. An immigrant under law is someone who is a green card. There is no such thing as none document of personable to green card. Who has aented person green card. Its like calling a thief and undocumented owner. [laughter] [applause] back to sanctuary cities, we have this huge problem in 1996, you may recall republicans took over the congress and republicans in congress recognized this was a growing problem. They passed a bill in 1996 that made sanctuary cities illegal. And federal law, these centuries these are legal. 1373 and 1644, 2 places in the federal code. Congress made it illegal. If only. Congress naively thought back in 1996 that all they had to do was ell American Cities stop it and they would stop it. They never dreamed these cities would break federal law and keep going, but thats exactly what happened. Something else happened in 1998. The city of new york sued the federal government and said we want to keep our century city, you cannot stop us from doing that and think lee, the city of new york lost in court in 1998. [applause] that was in the Second Circuit u. S. Court of appeals. This new york city get rid of their sanctuary policy . No, they kept on going. The secondary cities have become a persistent problem. They have no intention of stopping the policies. You dont have to be a lawyer to see what happens when that when you have an illegal alien arrested for some violent crime, is a call made to ice . No. The illegal alien goes back onto the streets and so many families appear on the stage have loved ones killed when illegal aliens are released back onto the streets. In noncenturies of these, theres at least a chance that that person will be deported in nonsanctuary cities, theres at least a chance that the person will be deported. Another problem that happens is gangs and start operating in sanctuary cities. If you are a gang member and you want your gang to be operating in a place where your illegal alien members wont be deported, you operate in sanctuary cities. Why do you think los angeles has seen such a are your eyes in the number of that such an extraordinary extraordinaryan externally ri e gangs . The number of in a noncentury city, they can call i sent have the guy deported. , theya nonsanctuary city can call ice and have the guide reported. There are so many tragic stories. This demonstrates the legal ridiculousness. The case of the baloney family in San Francisco in 2008. A family i represented in court. On june 22, 2008, anthony was driving home from a family picnic on a sunday afternoon after church. As they were sitting in their stop car, another vehicle driven by an illegal alien from el i missed 13 member drove up, pulled a gun out and just started murdering the bolognas in their car. Anthony was killed, along with two of his sons, michael and matthew. Survived the incident, miraculously. Had been in and out of symphysis Police Custody at least three times. Thats San Francisco Police Custody at least three times for serious crimes. Every time, the sf pd was prohibited from picking up the phone and calling ice. Ice would have put him at the top of the list because he is a gang member, he had multiple arrests for violent crimes, he would have been out of this country. Occasion,n the third they did not pick up the phone and call ice, he was released back onto the streets and this terrible incident happened. Those three people would be alive today. The same can be said in so many cases. If something had been done to enforce our laws, so many of the loved ones of people here would have been alive today. There is a direct connection between enforcement of our laws or the nonenforcement of our laws and the loss of our loved ones. That has to stop. [applause] let me tell you the rest of that story. Bologna andanielle agreed to represent her in court. We were trying to think of some way to stop the madness in San Francisco. We thought maybe we can make the city financially responsible. We will sue the city and because the city was knowingly violating the federal law, that should help us. The city claimed sovereign immunity and that shield them. Lawcity claimed congresss against singh trace of these was not designed to protect the bologna family. What did congress have in mind . Thesess wanted to take illegal alien criminals up the streets, but a judge found that not really what congress had in mind. Congress wanted to protect us, the bolognas and yet, the courts would not let that intention be found in federal law. I knew at that point that america was out of options. We could not sue under the federal statute, the federal statute had no teeth and the were violating sovereign impunity. Funds too stop the sanctuary cities. [applause] we need a change in the law to help her future President Trump do just that. Thats our future president from do just that. Future President Trump do just that. It should be highway funds as well. We cannot have saved roads until we have the illegal aliens off the roads. Roads until we have the illegal aliens off the roads. The have been a couple of bills in congress to try to do that but they got nowhere because there was no one in the white house pushing for it. Pushing for someone it with trump in the white house. [applause] i will tell you this, there are some things that our president can legally do with his executive authority to start cutting off those funds even before congress acts. President trump look for every legal option he has to stop the century cities from feeding at the federal trough sanctuary cities from feeding at the federal trough. I want to leave you with a couple of numbers. Its not just about crimes, its also about terrorism. All 19 hijackers on 911 entered legally, but five of the 19 became illegal aliens while they were here. Mostly by overstaying their visas. Stoppedthose five were by state and local police for traffic violations. Three of those four were pilots. Just think, if those Police Officers have been able to make an arrest and call the feds, they could have taken the pilots out of commission. Sanctuary cities would make it even more difficult to do so. What mr. Trump is doing is not only about crime, it is about National Security. We have to stand behind him and improve the situation and end century cities in america. Sanctuary cities in america. To introduce mr. Trump. She started the remembrance project quilt. It has nationwide reach. It maria is here, maria would like to say a few words to introduce our future president. If maria is here. [applause] maria hold on one moment, folks. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for attending our first ever remembrance andheon where we honor remember americans who have been killed by illegal aliens. Individuals who should not have been in the country in the first place. 16, 2015, most americans probably dont remember that day, but here, our families do. We remember that date because that is the day that donald forp announced his run president of the United States. [applause] maria there is only one candidate who spoke the truth. There is only one candidate who reached out to our families, our families, americas most forgotten families. There is only one candidate who embraced and took in his arms the mothers whose children were killed. Innocent victims. For over 15 months, mr. Trump has traveled all across the United States and met with our families and listen to their stories. He is the only candidate who will support the National Programs are families have put forth. Our families have put forth. This amazing man is mr. Donald trump. I would like for you all to please put your hands together and give a warm, warm welcome that we are so honored for mr. Trump to be here with our families. [applause] [playing proud to be an merican] donald trump great people. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, maria, for the introduction. Its beautiful. And for the work that you and your Organization Due to honor these fallen, stolen american lives. And educate for justice on behalf of all american victims. What you have to go through is unbelievable. [applause] today andd to be here to shine a National Spotlight on a group of victims who have been forced i mean truly forced into the shadows. These stories are not featured in the news. You have no demonstrators taking to the streets on your behalf. You have no special interests taking up your cause. And the politicians ignore your cries for help. But i never will. [applause] ive known many of you for a long time now. Seems like a long time. Im still here and you are still here, right . Still fighting. Ive met many incredible people during the course of this campaign, but nothing has moved me more deeply than the time ive spent with the families of the remembrance project. The folks at remembrance are doing such an incredible job. [applause] the strength encourage that you shown in your very often lonely fight for justice will get there. You are the heroes. Your actions will help us to 1000 american citizens from losing their brothers and sisters and sons and daughters and parents. The most fundamental duty of government is to protect american lives. [applause] donald trump anyone who fails to understand this is not fit to hold public office. [applause] donald trump every day our border remains of them come in as an americans are needlessly victimized and killed. Every day, centuries of these are left in place commitments innocent americans are put in harms way. Cities are left in place, innocent americans are put in harms way. Risk a loving parent is at of losing their child. It is happening every single day. This country, dining room tables have an mdc at the family table because our government abandoned its duty and failed to enforce its basic laws. There are a lot of numbers in the immigration debate. Ive been talking about it for a long time. Obviously, people agree with me because you see whats happening, you see the numbers, you see the polls, you see whats going on at the rallies. A lot of people agree with me. Almost everyone agrees. Whats not to agree with . [applause] donald trump whats not to agree . Let me give you the most important number of all. But most important number of all is the number of american lives that is acceptable to lose in the name of the legal immigration. Let me tell you what that number is. Zero. [applause] donald trump our nation should not accept one lost american. Ife what do you tell the mother who just buried her daughter because someone who was released at the border who should have been sent home or should have been in prison in another country . What you tell the young boy who will grow up without a dead because the criminal was deported five times but was allowed to keep coming back . Grow up without a dad. What do you tell a wife who has ast her husband because sanctuary city released an illegal immigrant from behind bars . This has to end, it will end if i become president. I promise you, it will. [applause] donald trump thank you. [crowd chanting trump] donald trump thank you, everybody. Thank you. I love you. Room. Everybody in this special people. Not one more American Life should be given up in the name of open borders. Just look at what happened in the last few days the last week, it was reported that authorities an illegal immigrant in the austin area who is responsible for nearly a dozen sexual assaults and had been previously deported five times within a threeyear period. In kansas, ishares Department Master deputy was a sure Department Master deputy was killed by an illegal immigrant. A sheriffs Department Master deputy was killed by an illegal immigrant. Deputy collins was killed only hours after his daughters fourth birthday. If you does ago, to Correctional Officers in california were quickly wounded after being shot by illegal immigrant who overstayed his visa. This individual had been convicted of child rape and was slated to be deported, but his home country refused to take them back. He was simply too bad, too tough, too evil. They said we refused to take them back. One of the victims has six children, is an air force veteran and a High School Football coach. The other victim is a mother and a grandmother. When Hillary Clinton with , this countrytate refusing to take back deported citizen came before Hillary Clintons desk but she failed to take forceful action and ignored the federal law requiring her to suspend visas to countries that dont take back their citizens. She did not want to get involved. Politician. Politicians. According to a report from the 20082014,e, from nearly 13,000 criminal aliens were released back into u. S. Communities because their home countries would not take them back. They were too tough, too angry, too evil, they dont want them back. And we dont force them back. We want to be nice people and nice and politically correct. And they are all roaming the streets. Most of these 13,000 releases occurred on Hillary Clintons watch. She had the power and duty to stop it and she didnt. Now, my opponent will never be with you. Meet with you. No interest. You know that because youve been trying for years. Theyve been trying for years. She will never hear your stories, she will never share your pain. She will only meet with the donors and the special interests and the open border advocates. Her plan calls for total amnesty in the first 100 days, which means obamacare, Social Security and medicare for Illegal Immigrants. Her plan calls for catch and release of the border at the border. Closingy cities Detention Centers and a virtual to Immigration Enforcement in the United States of america. Hillary clinton has even announced that she plans to go around congress and implement amnesty by executive order. Violating our constitution and putting the entire nation in grave peril. Person,clinton is the the first person to ever run for the presidency effectively proposing to abolish the borders around the country that she is supposed to be representing. Youthe media doesnt want to know that. So, they will never ask her any questions about her plan. Wont be talked about at the debate. Which is going to be a very interesting time. [laughter] [applause] donald trump like how she will give lifetime welfare and entitlements to Illegal Immigrants and how many people will be victimized egos of the Illegal Immigrants that will be released from federal custody. Right at the border. Or inside of the border. Asked to explain what you will say to the American Workers who will lose their jobs when she prints out millions of work permits for those here totally against the law, many of whom have very substantial problems. Your cause in your stories are ignored by our political establishment because they are determined to keep our border open at any cost. Justem, your presence is too inconvenient. It is an inconvenience. But help is coming. I will tell you that. [applause] on november 8, we are going to win the white house. [applause] and we are going to deliver justice for every American Family and every single american victim. You know what that means. [applause] together, we will save american lives and prevent the next 1000 American Parents from hav suffering the same fate as the people in this room today. Their loved ones will not have died in vain. Believe me. [applause] they will not have died in vain. Alone, think of this, since 2013, the Obama Administration has allowed 300,000 criminal aliens to return back into the United States and its communities. These are individuals encountered or identified by ice but were not detained or processed for deportation. According to the federal governments own data, there were more than 2 million convicted criminal Illegal Immigrants inside of the United States right now. We wonder why do we have such crime, why do we have such violence . This is true violence. Violence like most people have never even heard of before. However, this figure does not include the many individuals who have committed crimes but escape justice, fled the jurisdiction. Or were otherwise never caught and many of the folks are in that position. Aresometimes know who they and yet, they are never caught we are going to catch them. [applause] donald trump many crimes committed by people here illegally remain open cases. And yet, our government knows a lot about the people. But they dont go after them. They have killed people and they dont go after them. At the same time, hundreds of individuals who have been given visas and refuge think of this, theyve been given visas their refugee admissions into the country subsequently were charged with terrorism and nobody does anything about it. Its the most unbelievable thing thats why its become a personal passion for me when i see these people and theres so many people cannot remember its project, there is so many people this is a small group, compared what were talking about. The devastation is unbelievable. We are admitting people here with no idea of who they are and we dont know much about them. We dont know what they believe, we dont know if they have love in their heart for our country or they have hatred in their heart for our country. Its drugs, terrorism or violent crime, our government is really feeling that utterly failing its core mission to defend and protect the people of this country. The Border Patrol agents, these are incredible people. They endorsed me. First time theyve ever endorsed a president ial candidate. [applause] donald trump thank you. Theyve warned that Hillary Clintons plan will put the entire country in grave danger. I fully understand that. They called it radical, deeply dangerous and warned it would trigger an unprecedented national crisis. Better than any consultant, they know better than anybody, the Border Patrol agents, lets just remember our goal, to prevent the next family from suffering the same terrible fate. [applause] that is what is at stake in this election. Some of going to invite the bravest people i know and i twoat 100 to, pierre o come up here and speak. We picked five families. If you could say a few words. How about we start over here . Perfect. Thank you. [applause] thank you so much for being here. My name is laura wilkerson. Our son was killed in 2010. He was brutally beaten, tortured, strangled to death and his body was set on fire. Weve sent out letters to every and thetial candidate only one we got back was from mr. Donald trump. He has really given us a voice. [applause] our goal is to help people when this happens in their lives. Our first goal is to stop it, but we know there will be more before it stopped. We want to help them with their expenses and Legal Counsel if need be and to tell them that we have rights. We should have more rights than the killer. [applause] thatalso just want to say , wee are all deplorables are doing something right. [applause] my name is brenda sparks, my sons name was eric. A legalaised by immigrant only to be mowed down on the road by an illegal alien. That illegal alien did not one second in jail. He is out there on the road and mr. Trump is the only one that has listened to us. Hes the only one that has spoken directly to me. And i thank him for that. I will be voting for trump because he wants to protect you. [applause] my name is julie and my son, in the sanctuary city of houston, texas last year was driving home and was sitting at a red light when an illegal alien went on a shooting spree, drove by and shot him in the head. He died alone in his car. I want to thank mr. Trump for bringing this issue to the national attention. Illegal that killed my son had been deported four times, was a known gang member, he had burglary, assault and attempted murder on his record. And he was still driving and presumably working and living fine in houston, texas. Came at thedeputy end of the shooting spree and put an end to the shooting spree and to the illegal alien so he could not continue on. [applause] thank you very much. [applause] agnes. Ame is my family legally immigrated to the United States after trying three times. It took us 13 years. We came with a job contract. [applause] my father had a job contract, we had to sign legal documents stating we would not for public assistance. The ironic thing about it is an illegal alien murdered my son, my only son, who had been previously deported. My biggest fear is that anyone would have to go through the life sentence i lived with and other families live with because of what this guy did to our family, i would never have the chance of having my son tell me happy birthday. It is my birthday and all i want for my birthday is a new president , donald trump. [applause] my name is juan pena and my daughter kristi had just turned 14 years old. They found her murdered in castroville. Strangled, she had been stabbed, she had been and they threwd her body in the field in february in the rainy season. During this time, this person had kidnapped two other 14yearold girls and had been caught and was still out on the streets. When he killed my daughter, he left to mexico, came back and tried to kidnap a 12yearold girl. At 7 00 in the morning on her way to school. He got away again. Now, they finally got him after 25 years in mexico. It is hard to get somebody extradited from mexico they asked me what i thought about the relations with mexico and the net states that the United States and i told them its great. If you are focused on bell peppers and tomatoes. Other than that, its nothing. I think everybody for being here. Thank god youre here. I come from a sanctuary city. Thank you. [applause] donald trump thank you very much. Are a few of the stories, there are thousands of these stories and we have to work very hard and we have to be very smart. These are truly wanted families. Thats wounded families and sadly, they will never get to , does it get better with time . And they actually said it doesnt and sometimes it gets worse with time, which is something that is incredible. I want to thank all these great people. They are representing a lot of other people. Thousands and thousands of people were similar things have happened. I would like to ask maria to and we are going to ask her to say a few words. Thank you. [applause] maria again, thank you all for being here. Please stay involved with all the families here. We will make a presentation. Trump, in honor of the work you have done for these families and the families across the country and the work you are going to do as president of the United States of america [applause] , i present this plaque representing the loved ones of the families who have been killed by illegal aliens who are here with us today. , from thehat, we say remembrance project and the families who have lost their loved ones in those who have not yet but unfortunately will lose their loved ones to illegal aliens, we present this memorial to you. [applause] donald trump thank you very much. [applause] donald trump thank you very much, folks. I really appreciate it. To these unbelievably strong and brave people, we will fight and we will win and again, i say, your loved ones will not have died in vain. Believe me. Ok . Thank you, everyone. Thank you very much. Donald trump[applause] [applause] [playing proud to be american] how about that ladies and gentlemen . Our next president of the United States. I want to bring maria back up to say a few closing remarks. Thank you. Rea this is our first event. We really need your support. The families need your support. We have a website, the remembrance,project. Org. God bless you. The remembranceproject. Or g. Lets make America Great again. [applause] later today, president obama and deliver his seventh final keynote address at the Congressional Black Caucus foundation dinner. Part of the 46th annual legislative conference. Hillary clinton will also received the inaugural trailblazer award in recognition of becoming the first woman president ial nominee of a major party in the United States. Live coverage of the event begins at 7 30 p. M. Here on cspan. Now, eurasia policy experts assessing russia under president Vladimir Putin and the consequences of new antiterrorism measures on civil and religious liberty. This runs about 90 minutes. Good morning. We are going to get started. Thank you for joining us. Im the Deputy Director of the Eurasia Center here at the atlantic council. , acrussia. Ollow us of laws was set passed in russia but unfortunately we have not heard very much about in the american or western media. The Lending Council has been highly engaged to highlight the increasingly repressive regime putin inesident russia. From the closure of the civic space, the media space and increasing pressures on human rights under putin today. We posted approximately 20 events to highlight these issues. We are really proud of this work and this is part of highlighting some of these worrisome trends. To my left is the senior director of russia and eurasia and the National Endowment for democracy. A phd in International Affairs from Boston University and shes been following the developments in the Civil Society many years and we are delighted to have here with us today have her with us today. This event is cohosted and cosponsored by the United States commission on International Religious freedom which cap he represents your today. Kathy represents here today. Analyst senior policy she has really been an expert on not just the soviet situation this post soviet situation, but also the soviet era. Kathy, thank you for joining us. Next to kathy, we have our colleague who is Research Fellow hannah has been spending a lot of time in ukraine. She is a peace corps volunteer there. Shes been following political and Domestic Development in russia, including a lot of research she has done on mr. Putin himself as a personality and political leader. Thank you for joining us. Hannah, i want to start with you. Youve been following the domestic political policies in putin since his last term in 2012 come others been more attention paid to the growing pressure on Civil Society, media and just basic human and civil rights in russia. I wonder if you could start us off by giving us the bigger law we arethe talking about was just passed in the summer of this year. Use language of antiterrorism to screw down on Civil Society. And other forms of free expression. Stuff for the or is thiseration another incremental set of laws that goes in line with what weve been saying and unfortunately can expect the kremlin today . First, my thanks to the atlantic council. For convening this seminar today. That theseice to see issues are being discussed here in washington. ,ver the past couple of years all the events that have been occurring in both western and Eastern Europe have shifted our attention away from some of the really unsavory practices in s russia. Glad we can focus in on the religious aspect and internet freedom. It is very incremental. 20112 have seen since 012, the less time we had parliamentary elections in , we saw a large amount of people taking to the streets protesting what they considered a stolen election, protesting the idea that Vladimir Putin had sayinggotten up on stage i will return as your president and you have little choice in the matter. You saw hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of moscow. And other cities like st. Petersburg. Ever since that point, youve seen Vladimir Putins kremlin become extremely concerned that they are going to lose control of the political situation in the country. I think that fear was only exacerbated by what happened in ukraine. They saw that there really is this kind of potential poor for peopler power, people who are disgruntled with the leaders who are pushing the boundaries too far. You can see a trend in the past couple of years. It has push them in the wrong direction. You have a set of these movements and these bylaws that are named for the yaravia. Ntarian europ these are just another in a long sort of list come a long laundry list you could go through of events and decisions and laws that have been pushed through over the past 24 years. That have slowly been alerting eroding the civil rights and Civil Liberties of russians. Are in somee laws ways seemingly targeted towards folks in the annexed crimea. It doesnt get as much attention as it should. Over the last two years, youve seen the antikremlin laws targeted against people like ethnic ukrainians living in crimea who arent very keen on russian annexation and theyre willing to go out and protest and Say Something about the way they are being treated. You have a situation in which these antiterror laws can be used to stymie political protest , to put people the kremlin doesnt like, people they consider to be potential troublemakers, to put them in jail and silence them. You are seeing and decided trend towards that direction. Toortunately, it is starting take in other people into his trap. Kathy will talk about whats happening now with the liberties of certain groups of religious , certain different confessions that are not Russian Orthodox. Different sections of protestantism being caught up in this net, essentially saying we do kremlin have decided what it means to be a russian and if you dont fall within those ramifications, youre out. You are describing is a centralization of control over society, not just for politics and the economy would we come to expect from the kremlin for some time, but this trend now of centralizing control over religious institutions and the civic space. The online space is something that we need to pay more attention to. Overall step in this system of control between established. You also brought up crimea in , greatea of revolution fear of the regime. As most of you probably know, russia will be Holding Parliamentary Elections in a couple days a sunday. It will be the first time they are held in crimea as well. This is something we should come back to. Miriam, i would like to take this over to you for a moment. You work for the National Endowment for democracy which specializes in development of Civil Society. Civil society in russia is under many types of pressure. Laws likely hostile the undesirables law which started this trend of civic repression. Also disinformation campaigns. Slandered and humiliated on public television, yet Many Russians continue their work in russia. Can you tell us a bit more about the challenges the civic groups who are still working in russia despite these mounting challenges continue to face . Thank you. That is a great way of introducing the topic. I want to start also with a protest of 2011, 2012. Which suppressing future themets like that is the of the various repressive laws the state passed. Among the first of them was the Foreign Agents law which was passed in 2012. You can come in a way, compare the legislation that just came is one of an july series of worsening pieces of legislation. What did the kremlin want to clamp down on . It wanted to clamp down on public assembly. Evenh rougher individual tickets can be interpreted as mass disturbances. People can get jail time. Law and extremism. A lot of extremism has been applied to implied online. There are four or five new cases in the last year of people going to jail for liking something on facebook or reposting something. Its interpreted as extremism. Usually, the content is proukrainian. There was a case where a young man went to jail for three years for reposting proukrainian content to 12 people in his contact list. There is a kremlin cents from 20112012 that protests can break out anywhere, not just d groups were organized on facebook and twitter. So, the internet has to be controlled and it is increasingly controlled. The legislation fits into this general trend. Kathy will talk about the religious sphere. And threeitch trial young women were sent to jail. , according blasphemy to russian legislation. Law, there isents a character in a main weight in a hemingway novel that is the implementation of these laws. Initially, ity was written so you had to go involuntarily put yourself on the list. Of course, no one did. Not humanitarian social organizations no one but themselves on the Foreign Agents list. It was rewritten so the Justice Ministry puts you on the list. Now, there are 170 organizations organizations are finding it in court. Among the most recent to the Foreign Agents law, so the says yourganization find yourself as a Foreign Agent is to simply say i take money from abroad, i am a spy and in the 1930s, stalin set millions of people to their death basically of a charge of be in a agent. So for russian organizations to themselves as a Foreign Agent is reminiscent of that. So among the most recent additions to the Foreign Agents registry is the center. That is independent pollster, that found that united russia has declined in support in the most recent poll they found that united russia, putins a party has 31 percent. Very quickly after that they were declared the Foreign Agents and shut them down effectively before the parliamentary elections. The last was a wonderful metaphor of what is going on, any kind of volunteerism is seen as political threat. So, in the the summer theres forest fires and two environmental volunteer groups organized volunteer firefighters to go fight forest fires. Byy were forcefully stopped the emergencies agency. So you have the russian state , stopping volunteers who are trying to fight forest fires and then declaring environmental watching caucus a Foreign Agent. You have Civil Society trying to do something helpful and beneficial, you have the state doing everything they can to suppress it because god for bid god for bid anybody does anything independently. So you still have the forest fire. Actually a wonderful metaphor for what you have going on in russia right now. I think to import things that i want to emphasize of what you said to get people to understand what the situation for russia and russia is today. One, in in the u. S. Context it is impossible for us to imagine that if you like a friends post on facebook that this could actually have legal, criminal consequences. This is really extreme and the profound sense of that word. On on the other hand, the recent development particularly with the bravado center being put on the agents list is worrisome. It shows how closely the kremlin is watching the civic groups. When there is something that is is just even a small bit against what the current government sees as what needs to be done, what should be done, organizations are not holding their party line they basically immediately shut down. This was happening almost immediately. So i wanted to kind of dig a little deeper on the Civil Society question. So, there is a broad trend, but these specific laws are focusing now, how are are they really going to further affect the work of civic groups in russia today . It is in direct. Thedecision whereas Foreign Agents targeted organizations, they target everybody. It has some shocking provisions. One of which which is an obligation, legal obligation to inform an advance of potential criminal acts. 1930stype of Legal Standard how that is supposed to function and what that means. Its legal obligation to to become an agent. The other piece that is not discussed is the obligation the other piece that is astonishing are the internet provisions. The application by internet providers are loosely defined anyone who is in that sphere to collect and store all data, hitss, or anything that the internet in russia has to be stored. It has to to be stored for six months. The government has access to without any it without any warrants. Its a system of total surveillance. Metadata has to be stored for three years. The idea is that this, in addition to that all encryption, company must provide Encryption Keys to the government again, without any warrants, anonymous accounts are impossible if a provider or provider is obligated to terminate an account if a person cannot be identified through the account. It nullifies privacy completely. So, it doesnt it just goes after the entire population as opposed to organized or informal groups but the implication of , that set of provisions is is is huge. It also, one of the things that we think about is that when one country adopts a set of rules , you can expect others to as well. In the sphere of internet the idea that some Companies May start providing backdoors or somehow breaking encryption, what i should say about it is also the technical requirements are, kind of ridiculous. There is not a lot. If its endtoend encryption its probably not impossible to , not possible to break. But the direction of this is very dangerous because if it is accepted in one place they can become accepted in another. The way the internet works if compromised here, it can be compromised elsewhere. These pieces, although what ive said about the other law it Foreign Agents law, if it wasnt traditionally enforced , it is now very much in force. So the other will be tweaked a little bit and enforced maybe not such a ridiculous form but in a some kind of equally dangerous form not too long from now. So just the fact that the law is written so broadly and it covers so much that today it is not enforceable, does not mean it shouldnt still worry us, and the potential publication is still troubling. [video clip] ms. Polyakova lets go back closer to the ends to talk about these broader ramifications. Not just for the Domestic Society but for other potential diffusion across a regime specifically, and i do want to talk a little more about more on the underrepresented consequences of this law which , you mentioned is the application to become a servant in your peers, which goes back to some of the dark soviet union. Another aspect i think it has been underreported that i would like kathy to talk about is the consequences of these laws of various religious groups that function in russia today. So could you tell us a bit more, hannah started talking about it. How the new laws or these religious groups in which religious groups are being affected and are most likely to be affected in the future . Ms. Cosman before doing that i wanted to mention one other aspect of the law that i consider particularly mind blowing i suppose. And that is that it lowers the age of criminal responsibility to 14. So in addition to making a crime to fail to report a possible crime, in other words to inform on your neighbors, stall and style, now children as young as 14 can be held liable for crimes. Also, i wanted to mention that the internet provisions, there is a lot of complaints from the community, the Technical Companies that are involved in all of this because its just enormously is expensive to do with the law requires. So even they they were even granted an extension. So that those requirements do not go into effect for another year. So well see what happens. Was pointed out as far as , religious aspect is concerned there are many ways in which religious community may, and are ready are being affected by the law. One is, again this applies not , just to religious community community. Community. They are enhanced penalties under russian extremism law. And they affect all kinds of people in Civil Society, crimean and of course religious believers. There is one aspect of the extremism law that gets not much reporting but we do report it in , the chapter from our annual report which is available in print and of course online. Also in russian by the way our chapter from our annual report and that is that there are now 3800 items on russias officially banned books, materials, internet sites. Many of them are religious material, majority of them are muslim, which do not add or pay advocate for violence in any way. There is in fact a major scandal, i believe a year ago , when they tried to ban a translation of the koran which has been with very popular with translating by very popular scholar into russian. And that was overturned. So works that are on the extremism list can be overturned with extreme difficulty. Also, i wont go into detail, it is mindboggling the permutations of this particular aspect of the extremism law , which, again affects not just , religious believers of course and it does include some materials which are generally hateful. For example, it took them several years, but mein kampf is on the list. This only applies to a specific edition. So, that would just give you of flavor of how mindboggling and complex that aspect of the law is as well. The extremism law has been used also against religious communities. Two particular aspects, if a community has been ruled by court to be allegedly extremist then any person who is active in this legally liquidated community is liable for criminal practice prosecution as engaging in criminal activity. So which groups are the most , affected by that . A pacifist group, jehovahs one, and the other, muslims who read the works of a wellknown turkish, kurdish why we would see this on the list of officially banned material . Probably because russians feel funny about the fact that an estimated 20 million of the population are muslim and are turks or at least tartares who are turkish. And, of course, many other groups in the north caucasus and you all know enough about the north caucasus to know that caucus means language mountain , and indeed it is. , and then the the majority then of course are muslim as well. So the potential is huge. But to get back to the other, as usual when dealing with russia at all seems to be interlocking directorate which is very , complex to disentangle. I should mention a prelude to visavisbylaws religion and that is the 2012 , law on sending religious feelings or sentiment. It has amended the criminal and administrative codes and i want , to briefly mention two very vivid examples of the way in which the language of that law has been used or is being used. One is an atheist was on trial, or at least his trial started in march of this year. He went online being extremely skeptical, shall we say about , religion in general. But he is on trial for offending religious sensibilities, particularly the Russian Orthodox community. And a more recent case in forember, well, it speaks itself shall we say. , a russian video blogger, he is perhaps, istely, now under house arrest. He was transferred from prison because he posted a video of himself playing pokemon in a Russian Orthodox cathedral. So, i think those example show you how shall i say the flower flowery excesses of all of this. Law, i will not go into great detail about the numerous provisions except to say that basically this is one major step toward requiring that religious communities, in order to be able to function, to fully function as religious schools it groups, it is one step toward requirement that they be registered, which is not currently required registered with the state which is not , currently required. Because the only people who can legitimately engage, again limited, but still missionary activity are those who are , either clergy or on the board of registered religious communities, or who have written permission from a general meeting of a registered religious community. But, even they can only engage in missionary activity mainly in in places in buildings or on land owned by religious communities. So, as many of you know protestants, especially evangelical protestants are often denied permission to build churches in russia and many of them choose not to register or refuse registration because it goes against their religious beliefs to register with the state. Then, not going to be allowed to hold informal religious services in their homes. Because if there is a one single nonofficial member of their religious community present in that apartment or house, or whatever, then they will be engaging in missionary activity. And they have the Russian Courts have already gone to town against several individuals in various parts of russia for engaging in missionary activity. Mostar evangelical protestants, most of them are ,vangelicals protestants and a american baptist, mormon missionaries have been denied permission to come because they allegedly do not have the proper kind of documentation. The first was tried and acquitted is the only one that was acquitted was a hottie krishna. But anyway, with that restless, hopefully not too confusing overview of the situation, i close. Ms. Polyakova thank you. In the interest of time i want to go back to some things i want to have plenty of time for audience questions. One of the things that we talked about all of you have pointed to , the internet, and i want to get your thoughts on that. 2014 they also passed a bloggers , law which allowed the government to shut down the blog the size of very wellknown leaders in the space in russia today is where what were discussing his perhaps one of the last spaces for public open discussion. Now, what what were seen as the result of closing, some of the things that you described as part of the new law to provide in a store information on users and provide open access to the government that information. To provide encryption. Many say these are too expensive to enforce and that it is not going to be possible for the private firm to provide the do this because they provide Service Capacity it it requires a great deal of Service Capacity. So, for what purpose . Ms. Thoburn so, it is very interesting. Russians have gotten used to having the ability to go on websites from around the world, talk to friends on facebook and russian twitter is reasonably active. They are quite used to these things and the thought of it being taken away is alarming to them. Creating and implementing and enforcing these laws would have all of the data that is being sent out by russian citizens come back to the russian government for analysis. That is another thing that people in the kremlin might worry, could this be a trigger for protest, so they seem to tack,aken the opposite which is to create, implement, and enforce these laws would that would have all of the data that is being sent out by russian citizens come back to the russian government for analysis. Forcing these Telecommunication Companies to keep metadata from three years and Text Messages and pictures people send over their cell phones for at least six months. That is the thing you can see that might be useful if they are attempting to say prosecute people involved in major protest actions. And we saw this after the when the kremlin 2012, went to the thenowner of essentially the russian version of facebook, and they said we want this information. We want to be able to access what these users have written. Credit, thereat creator and owner, said absolutely not and he had the entire company taken away from him and it was put in the hands of the prokremlin business men and he finds himself in the same , situation. He has a new company. Telegraph which some of you may know is a very popular encrypted app you can use for messaging your friends. And again, with the orders about giving up Encryption Keys he said absolutely not. So there is some question about what happens to companies that refuse . What happens and there have been attempts in the past to make Companies Like google and gmail keep the information of russian users physically on russian soil rather than say in california or , new york. Will the russian government have their hand forced . Will they have to ban these apps . Will they block them . That is an opening question. Open will they take away these programs like gmail and facebook and what will that mean for the way that russians chose to interact with the world. I think that is an extremely interesting question. Ms. Polyakova i think that is extremely interesting question. Given where we are if one company is forced to shutdown many others come to replace it. And it is a constant chase. We should consider this is an incredible amount of metadata to and it isnt clear the , government has the capability and capacity to use it and perhaps the way , it seeks. We have to ask ourselves is this about giving the population the sense they are being surveyed. Ms. Lanskoy i think another piece of this is to take a look at the behavior of large westernamerican companies. We find China Companies buckle. You can see people taking a stand, and he is a russian at the mercy of the state. The jury is out how western companies will behave. Facebook moderation practices were accounts of critics, dissidents have been shut down arbitrarily. Clearly, trolls or government agents complained in a targeted way about famous commentators, opposition figures, and their accounts get taken down arbitrarily. There has been a petition with a couple of hundred prominent oppositionists asking facebook to revise the way they handle moderation, and the way they handle these questions complaints about accounts, because it is clear the russian government is manipulating it. When you have the rights of alexander figures these major signing a petition to facebook to say please take a look at how you are handling russian accounts, that is something, also, for us, the Way Companies behave in one space can translate to the way they behave in other spaces, so we need to be careful of this issue as well. I think a ms. Cosman he belongs to an alternative Russian Orthodox cosman he belongs to an national he belongs to an alternative Russian Orthodox church and he has faced all kinds of difficulties basically no longer lives in russia and those and the alternative Russian Orthodox church which he is affiliated has had all kinds of including earlier this month callin by the security services. One relic of theirs was removed and video of the Court Bailiff has been declared extremist material, and he was involved in publicizing that, so these effects go across the board. Ms. Polyakova the question i kathy, notsk you, just for russia or other authoritarian regimes, but also for the u. S. We are in washington, d. C. Issue ons not been an top of the agenda. Why should the United States and those in western countries care about this . Ms. Cosman well, lots of americans and evangelical protestants do care. There was one good lengthy letter signed by, i believe, a hundred representatives of religious organizations from all over the United States. And i should also mention that the search of scientology has provided space and Logistical Support for these kinds of efforts as have many other , churches. I should stay, it is interesting, however, that Franklin Graham, who was planning to hold a huge world for persecuted christians has decided not to hold the , summit in may in moscow but we will hold it in washington. A hundred religious leaders from all over the i should say religious leaders from a hundred countries are scheduled to take part in this meeting. And Franklin Graham has said he is doing this specifically or rather not doing this in moscow specifically because of the law. So, it affects a lot of american people, especially the protestant movement, and i should say, in general religious freedom doesnt get town as an in this foreignpolicy question does as , many other issues do. And environmental issues. I am glad you pointed out this coincidence. Ms. Polyakova hannah, same question to you. Ms. Thoburn i want to add to what kathy was saying and eco what was said earlier about the laws and the closing space for different religious groups has a tendency to trickle down to other of the post soviet countries. I think you particularly see that in a place like i should by jean in places where the clear paths where russia implements one law and several months later you will see them do something similar. There is certainly a trend in which countries who are interested in clamping down on their populations, whether it is belarus, this pakistan, they tend to take their page from what the russians do. And you see many, many instances in which if russia can get away with it, if no one cares about what russia does, all of these other countries feel they can get away it. They dont want to be the first ones, but they are certainly happy to be the second. At thanan i should say to that list kaz expand kyrgyzstan to the list. They are reordering their struck that deals with religion. Ms. Lanskoy i think the mimicking of the laws is true but it hits closer to home than that. There is an editorial in the Washington Post today about the need to take seriously russian hacking and russian elections,n of u. S. Russian hacking that of the dnc, the material leaked to wikileaks, trying to influence u. S. Elections. So the whole question of russian , abuses in cyberspace are a issue at. Domestic this point, and you dont need to go very far to see the relevance in these issues. Ms. Polyakova absolutely. I would like to open it up to audience questions. We should have the mike going around. Introduce yourself, give us your name and state your comment in , the form of a question. Gentlemen in the back in the blue. Yes. Yes. Yes. You go first. Alanurphy my name is murphy. Thank you for mentioning the Washington Post article. It leads into what i am talking about. We are aware with the hacks on the dnc hacks and the recent ones involving collin powell. To what degree do you think this interference has to do with tit for tat over the domestic opposition groups and over overt support for ukraine. Ms. Lanskoy no, i dont think that this is an anyway a titfortat. I think russia has clearly chosen sides in the u. S. Election, and they are trying to manipulate. We have seen similar operations in other places. In germany, for instance, with the scandals around, there were allegations of a rape last year that were false and manufactured by the russians to stop the germans excepting refugees from syria. There are instances where russia man manipulates internal politics of other states, and that is what they are doing here. It is not a titfortat for any u. S. Politics. Thephy i suppose United States government [indiscernible] the United States does not support does not hack and then release documents of united russia for instance. There is no there is no parallel between the behavior of these two fwments. Governments. The u. S. Government does not support russian opposition parties. The u. S. Government does not servers, but you know, maybe it could, but it doesnt. It hasnt on that. Think mariannei is right, but the argument we are engaging in goes to the heart of the Campaign Campaigns and what they have become over the last ten years. Undermining trust in Democratic Institutions and making the argument that the u. S. And western European Countries did the same thing and that is not true. However, that is the kremlin put that is consistently out there, and i think what we are experiencing here in the United States right now countries across russia, ukraine, georgia, have been experiencing, for many elections, but it is just that right now it is incredibly brazen of the Russian Federation and hackers to reach out and use their cyber capabilities. We are experiencing that now, but it is not new. Trend int of a broader how russia tends to manipulate and influence politics across the globe to achieve its own geopolitical agenda in those cases. I will take the next question now. Yes . Yes . Hi, i have a masters in Security Studies from the university of college london. You expressed tern about the legislation that makes it illegal to not report on certain types of crimes. We have had several instances of terror attacks in the United States that intelligence would have never have picked up, but people close to the perpetrates knew about. Mandatoryondering, is reporting something we see as a legitimate terror tactic, or something morally unacceptable for governments to force their citizens to do . Ms. Cosman part of the problem is how you define terrorism, and we define terrorism differently than the way the russian Legal Practice does. For example, in the extremism law, there is not even a nuecessity to use or advocate violence. This is opening the window very wide to allowing citizens to report on neighbors they dont like, you know, because they sing too loudly in a semireligious tone, or something. You know . Of thehe vagaries russian judicial system and legal tradition, unfortunately i , think it is written and conceived of in a too wide and vague of way. Perfect, thanks. I agree with kathy. Context is everything year. I understand where you are coming from but the way these , laws are applied is a context. Y different kathy said that as well. Mr. Rose the events of the past week and what i learned here today have stimulated my thinking about some of what is going on in russia and two words come to mind. One is metadata as mentioned here and the other is irony. During the last week, for those who read a hard copy of the newspaper, the Washington Post, for example, they have an ad that was sponsored in part at least by the aclu requesting that snowden be pardoned for this activities. It seems ironic now that what is going on in russia has been the revelation that metadata has been used to find out what is going on on the internet. What i am wondering is is and any portion of the is any portion of the republican russian public and i do not think or fight is too strong a word, which took place in the United States when a lot of people and their metadata was being checked has any portion of the russian public been horrified by what they learned about the use of the metadata . Ms. Polyakova hannah, do you want to ms. Thoburn i will jump in on this. There are a couple of things here. One is Edward Snowden himself came out strongly against this law. He himself said he is horrified at the way these provisions could be implemented against the russian people. There was in the initial stages of the drafting of the law and a also a stipulation that i. Stipulation that i believe a stipulation that i believe people convicted under this law could have their russian citizenship stripped of them and that provision raised the feathers of the russian republic. When it became clear that was not like not going to fly it , was quickly removed from the law but there is still the kind , of feeling in the air that that could be potentially be added back in later on once people are acclimated to what is in the current law. There have been protests and groups of people who are extremely upset about this reality. The difference here is that essentially the Russian Press is largely controlled by the government. So you are not going to see the , same kinds of aclu ads in large papers in moscow and the newspapers are not reporting it in such a way that some of the u. S. Media has reported what happened a couple years ago here. I think it is a different picture and unfortunately while there have been protests they are not going to be on the same scale of people being horrified. Because they have gotten used to because the way the laws have been implemented slowly over time, they have gotten used to the government being in their business. And, friendly if you lived era, it ishe soviet not that strange, anyway. So, why they want to shutdown the internet because that is the interesting space where people can speak out and actually among young people there was a poll recently 2242yearold urban used their Search Engines more often than they do the television. There are a month additions online petitions, each with about 5,000 signatures against the law. In the context where you can go to jail for a protest . 5,000 people showing up to protest is a pretty big deal. Pickets,l tickets smaller protests in other parts of the country. Is it massive . No. But there are certainly russians who are opposed and companies themselves, the Russian Internet providers would be bankrupt by this. Their unions and kind of ad advocacy organizations are opposed. And they have slowed it down, so the success at this point is , there has been an acknowledgment that you cannot implement this any time soon. So, if it is possible to slow it down, it is possible to make more changes. Ms. Cosman just quickly there , have been many, many protests from religious leaders, mainly evangelical and some muslims. They protested before the loss law was passed, and i should say inside there are all kinds of oddities on the way the law was put together. It was the Defense Committee that had total control over the wording. The religious Affairs People were not consulted at all, and the antimissionary provisions whichntroduced a deputy was one of the first russian regions that introduced a antimissionary law, which had been overturned, and one of the odd things is on the national level, russian officials have been quite consistent in being critical of antimissionary shutdowns or restrictions. Ms. Polyakova one question i wanted to post to the panel before we take more questions is the timing of these laws what we have seen the kremlin do is prior to major elections set on this tends to happen, another clamp down, and the law being passed. These laws passed in july. The elections are this weekend. Is the timing connected . In last massive protests 2011 were around the elections of that time, a protest vote. Is this, really, and anxiety attempt by the kremlin to try to prevent a similar outcome, or was is not connected to the elections at all, and this is part of the Legal Process in russia. Ms. Cosman ms. Cosman i think as they like to say in russia, it was not accidental that this was passed on the last day of the session before the election. Ms. Polyakova agree . Ms. Thoburn yeah, i agree, and is important to note they were moved up from when they were originally scheduled, which was december of this year. There was concern on the part of the kremlin they might see Something Like this happen again, so by moving them up close into the summer, they are hoping they can forestall some of those instance. Ms. Polyakova one more question on the side. Jack i am unaffiliated. Occurringe crackdowns in russia and elsewhere on Civil Society, what is the united response about it other than to just complain about it is there any specific incentive we can offer, or just continue complaining . Ms. Polyakova who wants to take that, kathy . Ms. Cosman well, the state Department Released a statement but it has only appeared on the ce. Delegation to the os it has not, as far as i know, appeared on the u. S. Embassy in moscow website. I must say that while the statement was in the finest tradition of diplomatic wording. Ms. Polyakova hannah . Ms. Thoburn i think there is certainly more that could be done but it not happening now. , one thing that concerns me a little bit is because these laws are put out there under the name antiterrorism and we do this Current Administration sees russia as an ally in fighting isis and in syria, and fighting terrorism. Russia has a history of perhaps, not are, paying as much attention to as we should. I think russia has learned sometimes labeling is 50 of the battle, and in this case they are right. I think that is a good point, hannah. These laws are really focused on the National Security at large and part of the National Security package. Russia has been passing repressive laws under the label of antiterrorism is security, which of course the u. S. , has no i will not intervene on various versions of russias own National Security laws. So, i think that has been very clever. The kremlin regime has learned how to use the language of human rights and antiterrorism are to increasingly passed down fact, the opposite of those kinds of values. A comment to that . Ms. Lanskoy there are all sorts of standards, norms we could refer to more frequently. Spade a spade a when we see these things. Russias behavior internationally and behavior at home contravenes all kinds of International Standards and we could be saying this more cleary on some occasions. The default is to complain what else can we do . We can be clear in our approaches. Ms. Polyakova these particular laws are not a tied to the actions and i think this should make policymakers feel more, i guess, confidant that the regime is something that should be maintained because russia domestically isnt moving in the right direction. And of course, it is not moving in the right direction, as is foreign policy, either. A question, gentlemen him the back on the site. Mr. Tucker patrick tucker. I really appreciate this panel. So the fsb, the russian intelligence service, has been getting a lot of press recently in the United States that one of the groups suspected through shade breaking into the dnc, stealing a lot of data, and then operationalizing the data to influence the u. S. Election by releasing through wikileaks and other, kind of, proxy publication services. So, i wonder if you could talk a little bit about the fsb. Is that method, that effective discrediting opponents someone you see him play in terms of dissidents in play in terms of dissidents in russia, and how do russians perceive the fsb. Who wants to take that one . Ms. Lanskoy sure. There have been instances you have different tactics in different situations. But the obvious outrageous case was putting sex tapes on the television in the spring, discrediting the leaders of parties byposition its clearly video of two people who are why was that done . Because was at that point the clear leader of the united opposition of several parties. So, his private life was taped. This was put on tv. It is purported to be these people, i should say. It is not completely clear. And their conversations are again, private conversations are insulting to other members of that coalition. So this tape was used to make , sure russian opposition parties would not enter into the election period together. Complete, you know the sort of thing that is so dirty yet becomes a basic element of controlling the political context in russia. Ms. Cosman i can give a much more simpler example. About ten years ago i was told a russian opposition politician whose son was studying music in london was told his son would have his fingers broken unless the politician mended his way. Ms. Lanskoy there are all kinds of propaganda campaigns anyone who is in an ngo is part of Sinister Forces that are manipulated from abroad, meant to instill fear and discreted whole categories of people. Occasionally, individuals are plucked out, and become the subject of some kind annunciation,the and this is done periodically. Different scapegoats are identified, and then a light is shined on them. Ms. Polyakova i think an important point is that the random selective nature of how these laws are used, i think is an incredibly effective for , creating anxiety. They are at the deposal of the Government Agencies to use when they feel like targeting an individual or organization. That randomness that you never know when you are the target is also part of the process. And to go back to to questions of how do the russians think about the fsb i dont think we , will know that. We have lost access to the only main independent polling in russia today. So i think the information we , are going to get from russia Going Forward is going to increasingly painted by the government perspective. Ms. Thoburn can i just add something . The kgb, which then turned into the fsb has a long history of collecting what they call comp compromising material. It is the setting up of these situations whether they are honey traps, video cameras hacks. , it is all about gathering information that can be used maybe not today, or next year , but can be used in the future make political gains and earn political points. The hacking is really important to mention. Hacking of Political Parties and systems isnt new. There was a famous hacking in estonia that took most of the country offline. As anin ukraine in 2014 election observer, and just a few days before the election the parliamentary election was supposed to happen, the entire system was taken offline. It is certainly not something that is outside of the norm of what the fsb would do. To me, it fits very much into the same patterns. You have seen them go further taking part of the ukrainian electrical grid offline. Last year, i believe it was, or early this year. Are certainly capabilities the russians have and are perfectly happy to use when they see an opening. Ms. Polyakova another question. Yes, the gentleman here. My name is [indiscernible] i am the editor of an independent russian outlet. My question is that dont you think that institutionalized persecution of political opponents started, not yesterday, but much earlier, time,n yeltsins inclusion of the famous article 282. Social, ethnic and other rhetoric. Since that time, not only have russian nationals called for his total abolition, but such liberals like party. Thank you. Do you want to take that . Ms. Cosman well, i think it is without question that the russians are masters at issuing many restricted laws. Things i onlyhe recently came to understand is the Russian Court system is organized or disorganized in such a way there is no precedent. A court in one place can rule one way and then a court in another region ruled the other way. Because the other court ruled one way doesnt influence how that other court rules. Obviously, some of you who may be lawyers can get a better explanation to what i just said, so, in short there are many , restrictive laws and unfortunately here this is another one to add to the arsenal. Ms. Polyakova do we want to give comments . Ms. Lanskoy there is a lawyer. Karen. Name is i have a lot of history in this area, but before to get to my question, all systems do not system, andlaw having said that, it is not supposed to be completely random. There is supposed to be a consistent interpretation of the code, even though it is not president ial. Anyway, i guess my question is really more about how technology is a game changer or not. Everyone made reference to the fact that everything old is new again. All of this restrictive legislation, selective prosecution, using the tool of social control is not an invention of the putin regime. It happens you know, it has been going on for hundreds of years, and it swung depending on where you picked in russian history from total repressive control, too, sort of incompetent attempts to control. ,im old enough to remember the spools of tape in the 1980s that nobody had to time to listen to. So the question is, really, how this new technology, the internet, the collection of metadata and Everything Else that is tech that i dont understand mitigates on either side the russian government attempt to control, control social organizations and an society and how it actually , works on behalf of the other side which is the side seeking to maintain open openness contact and activism. Ms. Thoburn i am happy to start with the question. I think it is a very important one. When the internet first became a thing there was a lot of , expectations that the internet is going to change the way that people are able to connect and that the internet is going to be a great tool that civil Party Society activists can use and this might change things to the better. I think unfortunately it has been proven to be correct be incorrect, because we have seen with every step and progress that is made in the technological theory you create telegraph, for instance. These governments, have, in their best interest, at least as they see it, to begin to push back on those. So while they may not be able to , gain control of the proprietary information of the software that runs telegraph and that is one of the fears by gaining some of the encryption codes, they will be able to then gain access to the information as well as backdoors into other systems. There are essentially movie at just moving at just about the same speed as the creation of new technology. Where you see Civil Society folks and the action on their side is when the law was passed last year i believe it was, that bloggers who had over 3000 hits a day had to register as an official news site, and were then put under the control of the same kinds of centers that helped run the russian media. A lot of blockers who were af affected by that decided to do something different. There would be a sign up on their website. And they would send an email only to one person. They were able to circumnavigate the restrictions of these laws. But its getting a lot harder. But there are concerns about facebook and twitter being appealedo
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