A few weeks ago the Secretary General of Club de Madrid, María Elena Agüero, and our Programmes Coordinator, Rubén Campos met with the Russian activist Alexánder Cherkasov, Chair of the human rights center Memorial, who was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize last year.
Cherkasov used his visit to Spain to learn about Club de Madrid’s work in defense of democracy and freedoms in countries where they are at risk. He applauded the statement issued by Club de Madrid on the situation of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and stressed that “not only Navalny is in prison, but also many other opposition leaders who have raised their voices against the war”.
“They were already signs of this route. Until 2012, there was system of ‘guided democracy’. There were a few free organisations that existed within this context of control. But after 2012, the authorities started building a new system of control. They established a legislation on foreign agents. All independent organisations were named ‘foreign agents’”
“Putin’s regime is not ideological. It may be based on one ideology or another, but the devaluation of values is the basis of this regime. There are no values, only interests. No one will act in the name of values, but only to make money”
“He says that Ukraine, the independent state, does not exist. He keeps playing this game with the subject that exists or does not exist. It is very important to revalue democratic values in order to find where the road to democracy is”
“Club de Madrid can have a large impact by defending and supporting activists and political prisioners to revalue democratic values. The work of these organisations is extremely important nowadays”
