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Kremlin says it is not monitoring regulatory agencies’ claims against local NGO

News broke earlier that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media had filed 4 administrative offense protocols against the human rights center

OMSK, November 7. /TASS/. The Kremlin is not monitoring claims from law enforcement or regulatory agencies against the "Memorial" Human Rights Center, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Thursday.

"We cannot pay attention to the interaction between some public organization and law enforcement agencies, this is impossible given the scope of the country," Peskov said.

When asked about President Vladimir Putin’s attitude towards research on the victims of political repression that Memorial is engaged in among other issues, Peskov reiterated that the president had visited the memorial sites of mass executions on many occasions. "He has repeatedly spoken on this topic, giving his explicit assessment of political repression, and that is why, of course he supports it in every way [this research]," Peskov said.

News broke on Thursday that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media had filed four administrative offense protocols against the human rights center for violating Russia’s "foreign agents" law.

In addition, last week Moscow’s Tverskoy district court fined the center 300,000 rubles ($4,686) because the Facebook page of Memorial’s branch in Ingushetia had no label indicating it was a foreign agent.

The human rights center’s attorneys vowed to fight the court’s decision, lawyer Mikhail Buryukov told TASS on November 1. The judge voiced her decision very formally, without details, he noted. "It is still unclear why the court had adhered to Roskomnadzor’s reasons without taking into consideration ours," the attorney stressed.

If the human rights center is penalized three times for violating the law on foreign agents, this could serve as grounds to shut down the organization. This stands out as a key reason why Memorial seeks to challenge Friday’s decision handed down by the court, the lawyer explained.

On October 22, the Tverskoy court imposed the same verdict on Memorial. The organization and its Board Chairman Yan Rachinsky were fined 300,000 rubles because the YouTube channel of the Ingush mission had no label or mark indicating it was a foreign agent.