The Russian Justice Ministry has added the medical workers’ union “Alyans Vrachey” (Doctors’ Alliance) to the registry of “foreign agents.”
According to the Justice Ministry, an audit of the organization revealed the “repeated receipt of foreign funding, as well as the implementation of political activity.”
The medical workers’ union Doctors’ Alliance was established in 2018. According to its website, the organization’s goal is to fight “for fair wages, decent working conditions, higher premiums, and well-paid overtime for all of Russia’s medical workers.”
Doctors’ Alliance Chairwoman, Anastasia Vasilieva, is currently a suspect in a criminal case launched over alleged violations of coronavirus regulations during a rally in support of jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny in January. Vasilieva, as well as the other suspects in the case, have been under house arrest since late January.
According to state investigators, the suspects in the case called for participation in a pro-Navalny rally on Moscow’s Pushkinskaya Square. “Acting on the aforementioned call,” a number of people came to the rally who should have been self-isolating at home due to COVID-19. This created a threat of mass infection, the prosecution says.
Who are they?
The other suspects in the case are Pussy Riot activist Maria Alyokhina, Navalny’s brother Oleg Navalny, Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) employee Lyubov Sobol, Navalny staffers Oleg Stepanov and Nikolay Lyaskin, Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh, and municipal deputies Lyusya Shtein and Dmitry Baranovsky.
The “Freedom for Navalny” protests
On January 23 and 31, as well as on February 2, “Freedom for Navalny!” protests took place in more than 100 cities across Russia. Demonstrators took to the streets to oppose the jailing of opposition politician Alexey Navalny, who was remanded in custody immediately upon returning to Russia from Germany on January 17. On February 2, a Moscow court sentenced Navalny to two years and eight months in prison. More than 10,000 people were detained throughout the country at the rallies in support of Navalny.