He told the people the truth - not the whole truth, but it was the first time in Russian history that a leader has told the people the bitter truth.
This is an attempt to smear a well-known group with allegations of involvement in espionage activity. They are preparing public opinion for a government move to close us down, which they can now do under the new law.
What the government wants is to close down civil society in this country. And that means they have to close down us, noncommercial NGOs, which remain the last bastion of the Russian civil society not controlled by the government.
Now they'll say that the public chamber is the expression of civil society -- and all the rest of us are marginal. Gradually people will forget that we exist. And to make that happen more quickly, that completely senseless bill has been passed.
All religious politics are restricted to support for the Russian Orthodox Church as opposed to other religious confessions.
I think it was the first time in our society that they noticed on the presidential level that there are also some forces other than the authorities, business and political parties.
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