MOSCOW, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Lev Ponomaryov, a prominent Russian human rights activist, said prosecutors charged him with extremism for accusing a prison official of torture.

MOSCOW, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- The number of rights violations in Russia has not declined this year, human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin said Friday.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- More than 500 demonstrators have protested racist attacks in Russia's second largest city, the Moscow Times reported Monday.

MOSCOW, July 9 (UPI) -- Russia must tighten up its military draft system, the nation's human rights chief said Friday, according to an Interfax news agency report.

MOSCOW, May 21 (UPI) -- The Russian government should accept a ruling against it by the European Court of Human Rights, national ombudsman Vladimir Lukin said Friday.

SKOPJE, Macedonia, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Tuesday, in an interview he granted to the French television channel TF1, that unilateral U.S.-British military action against Iraq would be a "grave mistake" and an "unreasonable use of force."