[free-sklyarov] What is the Russian gov't doing?

[Rob McGee]

Sorry if I have missed this detail, but I haven't seen anything about what
the
Russian gov't is doing about this since the early days, when some list
members
had finally gotten through to the SFO Russian Consul.

I would think they would be as outraged as we are! This is a significant
issue
of national sovereignty, and of the safety of Russian nationals abroad.
Clearly
they are not safe in the USA. But this issue does not seem to have captured
the
interest of high-ranking Russian gov't officials (or if it has, it hasn't
been
posted on this list.)

While I suppose in today's geopolitics, Russia isn't on a par with the USA
(nukes notwithstanding, because nobody wants to use them), they might be
able
to help somewhat. What a glorious opportunity to embarrass Uncle Sam -- the
USSR would have made the most of it.

Yes, it may not be in the interests of today's Russia to embarrass the USA.
But
effective diplomacy is all about veiled threats which are often only bluffs.
Does anyone know if any of this is going on? How about our Russian
contingent
on the list: have any of you tried to contact your elected officials? If so,
what are they saying about this?

Similarly, how is this matter playing in the Russian media? Is it getting
ignored over there like it is here? I looked at Pravda last week and The
Moscow
Times this week, and it really didn't seem to be getting any more coverage
than
in the New York Times.

If the Russian media are going to give this thing more attention, they could
possibly create enough of a ground swell which would force Putin to act. I'm
not familiar with Russian politics, but I think almost any gov't will
respond
to massive grass-roots concerns, at least in some fashion. And since the
enemy
of the people in this case is external rather than the Russian gov't itself,
I
wouldn't think their response would be repressive.

There are prize-winning human interest stories just waiting to be written
about the young Sklyarov family. Interviews with Oksana holding the baby,
maybe
a question to the toddler about how much he misses Papa. Tug at heart
strings,
ratings will skyrocket! How about the friendly reporter helping Oksana try
to
get a telephone call in to Dmitri -- and then to Putin? Great stuff.

    Rob - /dev/rob0

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