Since February, state prosecutors in Russia have issued two more revised indictments of environmental activist and nuclear navy whistleblower Alexander Nikitin.  The seventh and most recent indictment, issued May 8, deletes all reference to violation of secret and retroactive military decrees, removing whatever camouflaged foundation the charges ever carried.  The FSB (successor to the notorious KGB) is still charging Nikitin with high treason through espionage, disclosure of state secrets and falsification of documents.

Meanwhile, Nikitin and his wife have been recently subjected to a wave of petty police harassment. 

In an interview with supporters at Bellona, the Norwegian environmental group who published Nikitin's report on pollution from the Russian Navy's Baltic fleet, Nikitin reported, "There are some ten of them, who are following me all the way around.  They are all dressed in black, wearing black glasses.  Just like in a cheap detective story."

Bellona and the Sierra Club in the United States are actively working in support of Nikitin, and ask that letters of support for dismissal of the charges be sent to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, c/o the Embassy of the Russian Federation, 2650 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20007, Fax: (202)298-5735, or the Russian Federation Embassy in other countries.

(Thanks to ECODEFENSE!inform and Rainbow Keepers for this report.)

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last updated July 10 1998