Ludmilla Alexeeva

Ludmilla Alexeeva is a founding member of the Helsinki Watch Group, organized by the scientist Andrei Sakharov to monitor Soviet compliance with the 1975 Helsinki Accords on European security and cooperation.FOUR AMNESTY GRUPS ACTIVE IN COUNTY, by Tessa Melvin, New York Times, 11 December 1983.She emigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States in 1977.Biographies of the Speakers, Democracy and Security International conference, accessed 27 January 2009.
In 1988, Alexeeva was refused a visa to attend a Soviet-American conference in Tbilisi.
4 Americans Denied Visas for Soviet Gathering, The Washington Post, 16 September 1988.
In 1989, US diplomat Morris Abram said that Alexeeva had been turned down five times for Soviet entry visas.CSCE Conference on the Human Dimension. Conference on the Security and Cooperation in Europe, Morris Abram address; Department of State Bulletin, 1 September 1989. Transcript. Alexeeva returned to Russia in 1993.Biographies of the Speakers, Democracy and Security International conference, accessed 27 January 2009.
In 1995, Alexeeva attended the Fifth World Conference of the US National Endowment for Democracy(NED) in Washington. According to Helena Cobban, she warned that "if authoritarianism succeeds in Chechnya, it will overcome all of Russia."Democracy's Foot Soldiers, by Helena Cobban, Christian Science Monitor, 11 May 1995.
In her capacity as chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group(MHG), Alexeeva presented a report on human rights in Russian regions at a Washington briefing in September 1999. The report was the product of a study by the MHG and the Union of Councils of Soviet Jews. It was funded by 
the NED and USAID.Moscow Helsinki Group and Union of Councils for Soviet Jews to Release Landmark Study on Human Rights in Russia's Regions at Helsinki Commission Briefing, PR Newswire, 2 September 1999.
In November 1999 Alexeeva called for Russian delegates to be excluded from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly until Russia stopped attacking civilians in Chechnya.CHECHEN DIPLOMAT DETAILS MOUNTING HUMANITARIAN CRISIS, HELSINKI FEDERATION AGREES..., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 29 November 1999.
Alexeeva criticised the treatment of religious minorities in Russia in a June 2004 Washington briefing.Activists cite poor record on rights; Say government curbs freedoms, by Stephanie Dornschneider, Washington Times, 9 June 2004.
In March 2005, Alexeeva described the murder conviction of former Yukos security chief Alexei Pichugin as "Harsh and very unfair", adding that "There is no proof of the man's culpability. This is political revenge and nothing else."Ex-security chief in Yukos affair sentenced to 20 years for murder, Agence France Presse, 30 March 2005. 
In December 2005, Alexeeva was honoured by Human Rights First at its 2005 human rights awards dinner alongside Mudawi Ibraghim Adam.[Honoring Human Rights Defenders], Human Rights First, accessed 2 February 2009.
In January 2006, the Russian authorities claimed to have evidence that a British diplomat, Marc Doe had covertly provided the Moscow Helsinki Group with £23,000 in funding.Q's expertise lacking in spy rock shock, by James Button, The Age, 25 January 2006.
::Lyudmilla Alexeyeva, the head of the Helsinki Group, accused the Russian government of carrying out a propaganda exercise. "This is an attempt to smear a well-known group with allegations of involvement in espionage activity," she said. "They are preparing public opinion for a government move to close us down which they can now do under the new law."A lump of rock, a sophisticated spying device, and an embassy left red-faced, by Kim Sengupta and Andrew Osborn, The Independent, 25 January 2006.
In October 2006, Alexeeva accused Chechen Prime minister Ramzan Kadyrov of being responsible for disappearances in the region.Putin's Protege, The Evening Standard (Palmerston North, New Zealand), 10 October 2006.
In June 2007, Alexeeva spoke at the Democracy & Security International Conference in Prague.Biographies of the Speakers, Democracy and Security International conference, accessed 2 February 2009.She met President George W. Bush during the event.FACT SHEET: ADVANCING FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY AROUND THE WORLD, US Fed News, 1 May 2008.
In July 2007, Alexeeva called for the Portuguese presidency of the EU to stand up for human rights in Russia. "This is no time for the leadership of Europe to abandon us to our fate so that they may cuddle up with the new gas Czar of Europe", she said.Portuguese Presidency Urged to Stand up to Russia, PR Newswire, 4 July 2007.
==Affiliations==
*Moscow Helsinki Group
*International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
==References==
Alexeeva, Ludmilla