Statement Of Three Russian-American Organizations On The Tragic Events In The Boston Area

Posted by American Russian-Speaking Association for Civil & Human Rights, Inc. ⋅ April 20, 2013

As members of Russian/Russian-speaking communities of America and on behalf of our respective organizations, we are united with the people of Boston and all our country in the mourning and profound sadness over the deaths and injuries incurred by the barbaric acts of terror and violence of the past week. We extend our condolences from the depth of our hearts to the families and friends of the victims. And we share the feelings of relief and overwhelming joy over the final apprehension of the surviving suspect. Boston Police, the FBI, and other law enforcement agencies as well as local residents involved in making this happen have shown their heroism and professionalism under unprecedented circumstances, and we are deeply grateful to them.

For many decent, law-abiding and hard-working Russian-Americans of all ethnic and religious backgrounds, this is particularly tragic, given that the suspects in this unfathomable crime against our country and its people hail from Russia’s North Caucasus. Many of our friends and relatives in Russia know full well the suffering and trauma caused by similar acts of terror. We reject the attempts to link criminal actions or intent with any nationality, religion, or immigrant status. We believe that the ideology that justifies violence (whether in the name of Islamic or any other religion or otherwise) has no place in America or any other civilized country. We are fully supportive of every lawful measure and international collaboration among all the parties involved to combat the dangers of extremist beliefs and prevent the horrors of such attacks as we just experienced from ever happening again.

Leaders and supporters of:
American Russian-Speaking Association for Civil & Human Rights (ARA)
International Association of Former Soviet Political Prisoners (IASPP)
Russian-Speaking Community Council of Manhattan and the Bronx (RCCMB) –

Dmitri Daniel Glinski (New York, NY), Alexander Bolonkin (Brooklyn, NY), Sergey Semenov (Chicago, IL), Dmitriy Grishin (Columbus, OH), Julia Bikbova (Chicago, IL), Igor Kokarev (Santa Monica, CA), Irina Serova (Washington, DC), et al.

(To add your signature, please write to amrusrights@rccmb.org with your name and location)