Prof. Dr. Robert van Voren
Postbus 1282
1200 BG Hilversum (NL)
tel.:+31-651534123 / e-mail rvvoren@gmail.org / http://www.robertvanvoren.com
Chamber of Commerce Hilversum, NL No. 53660994 – BTW/VAT No. NL0034521059

Statement for European Parliament
Sub-Committee on Human Rights

April 1, 2014

Since the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis, the former Soviet Union is again daily front-
page news. The rapid sequence of events has led to an atmosphere that is very
reminiscent of the heydays of the Cold War. In Russia itself it has led to a hunt for
“national traitors” and “foreign agents” and observers both inside the country and
abroad fear for a return to full-scale Soviet repression. For the outside world this may
come as a surprise, human rights activists have been ringing the alarm bells already for
quite a few years. Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin took power, the human
rights situation deteriorated and more and more…