Russia's foreign minster says the January 6th protesters are being persecuted.

 

Joe Biden and Foreign Minster Sergey Lavrov. Reuters and Sputnik. 

Russia's Foreign Minster Sergey Lavrov  says that the January 6th protesters are being persecuted by the Biden administration. RT. The comments come before a meeting between Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Biden is expected to raise Russia's human rights issues but Minster Lavrov said that no issue was off the table and would expect to raise the treatment of the protesters that entered the US Capitol on January 6th. More than 400 people have been investigated with many being held without bail. 5 deaths occurred during the protest, including a woman shot by the police. Biden is expected to criticize Russia for their treatment of opposition figure Alexey Navalny and the reaction to the protests by his movement. 

My Comment:

Very interesting perspective from a non-American source. RT is pretty obviously a state news outlet with all the obvious disclaimers and issues that means but it is refreshing to see a different perspective. Our media has gone utterly insane and have demonized the participants in the January 6th protest to the point of self parody. Given that the media also spent the later half of 2020 giving BLM riots a free pass for utterly destroying several cities, causing billions of dollars of damage and leaving dozens dead, the coverage of the January 6th protest is utterly stupid. 

And I think Lavrov has a point. Biden has no business complaining about Russia's civil rights abuses when he basically did the same thing with his persecution of the January 6th protesters. Indeed, the fact that many of these people are being held without bail for minor trespassing charges is an absolute joke and one that should not be tolerated. 

That being said, the accusations of hypocrisy do fall flat. Russia does indeed have a long history of civil rights abuses. I don't have any sympathy for Alexey Navalny but I do have to say that the Russians were pretty excessive in putting down his movement. Neither side here has the moral high ground. 

I also don't think that Russia actually cares about the treatment of the January 6th protesters at all, just like I don't buy for a second that the Biden administration cares at all about Navalny and his movement. It's all about trying to have the moral high ground for the rest of the world and honestly I don't think either side is going to convince anyone. 

As for the summit, I don't think anything will be accomplished. Indeed, I am honestly surprised that Putin agreed to do it in the first place after Biden called him a "killer". I guess it's possible that Putin brushed off the remark given Biden's age and senility but I doubt Putin would forgive that. He has never struck me as the forgiving type.