Ukraine

PRESS RELEASE: ARA Rallies Supporters In 6 US Cities For The Russian-Ukrainian Peace Actions

* * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * *  

 Press Contact: Natalya Petroff

Phone: 917 288 0722, E-mail: communications@rccmb.org

September 22, 2014, New York City-Washington-Los Angeles-San Francisco-Seattle-Houston 

Association Rallies Friends & Supporters In Six US Cities

For Joint Russian-Ukrainian Peace Actions  

In Solidarity With The Russian Peace March

     On Sunday, September 21, American Russian-Speaking Association for Civil & Human Rights (ARA), jointly with other organizations and independent activists, brought hundreds of its friends and supporters into the streets of New York City, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Houston for the joint Russian-Ukrainian actions of solidarity with the Russians’ Peace March against the Putin regime’s military interference in Ukraine. The Association also provided media and information support for the seventh rally, in Boston, which was held by the Ukrainian community.

“Ukrainians and Russians have a rich shared history, including their joint struggle for human rights and democracy in the former Soviet Union, which is often overlooked,” said Lyuba Murzhenko, Vice President of Russian-Speaking Community Council of Manhattan and the Bronx and a participant of the Soviet dissident movement in the 1970s-1980s. “Today, tens of thousands of Russians have hit the streets in over 40 cities in Russia and throughout the diaspora, protesting against the Kremlin’s assault upon their closest neighbor. Putin’s war is not their war, even while many in Russia have been brainwashed or simply have to put up with the regime in order to survive. The struggle for a peaceful, democratic Russia and a secure Ukraine is hard, but we’re in it together, and we shall prevail.”

“I proudly stand with American Russian-Speaking Association for Civil and Human Rights and other participants in today’s rallies in opposing the Russian government’s aggression against Ukraine,” said Kirill Reznik, Delegate of Maryland State Assembly, in his written message. “The Russian-speaking community in the United States, and I, as its member as well as the first Ukrainian-born American legislator, understand that peaceful cooperation is the only way to achieve economic, political, and social prosperity.  We oppose the actions of Mr. Putin and his separatists in Eastern Ukraine and urge the United States Government, as well as all of the governments of Europe, to take every action necessary to bring peace and stability back to the region.”

“As Russian-Americans, we cannot be silent when the present Russian government intervenes militarily in Ukraine’s affairs, while continuing to suppress freedoms in Russia, and transforms it into a pariah state,” said Dmitri Glinski, ARA’s Co-Chair of the Board. “We have come here to affirm our vision of a future peaceful, democratic Russia that respects the rights of its own and other people, is a respected member of the community of democratic nations, and asserts itself by the power of its ideas, science, technology, and the arts, not by military power. This is the vision upon which Russian Federation was built in 1990-1991, and we stand in solidarity with those Russians who are rallying today in Russia and around the world in support of this vision.”

At the Russian Mission to the UN in New York City:

At the Peace March in Washington DC:

Peace Rally at the Federal Building in Los Angeles:

At the Russian Consulate in San Francisco:

At the Russian Consulate in Seattle:

 At the Russian Consulate in Houston:

Photo by Natalya Fisyak