Grigory Okhotin: "You mustn’t call yourself a 'foreign agent' "

7 May 2013  Source: HRO.org (info)  Moscow city & Moscow region  Public Prosecutor's Office  Human rights defenders  Articles by human rights defenders  Harassment of activists Grigory Okhotin, from the OVD Info project in Moscow: "I was surprised to find that a huge number of level-headed people do not understand the point of the campaign to ‘identify foreign agents.’ The question most frequently question by friends and colleagues is: ‘So why not register as a "foreign agent?’ The point of the campaign is not only and not so much about discrediting anyone. Personally that kind of discrediting doesn't really frighten me, NTV viewers and the readership of the Izvestiya newspaper hold little interest for me, because my project is not political and I myself harbour no political or electoral ambitions. In our activities, which are important regardless of the size of our audience, we rely on a narrow circle of educated and knowledgeable people." [Read more]