Petition to the European Parliament and the United States Congress To Place Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on a "No Entry List"

We, the undersigned, urge the members of these august representative bodies to place Vladimir Putin, Russia's Prime Minister, on a "No Entry List," thus barring him from being able to travel to the European Union and to the United States.

"Who is Mr. Putin?" was a big question 10 years ago. Now anyone who's been in touch with reality knows the answer.

Mr. Putin is the one who explicitly vowed to end terrorism, however terrorist attacks in Russia increased manifold after Putin took office. [1]

Mr. Putin promised to root out corruption, nevertheless during his reign corruption in Russia reached unprecedented levels, in no small part due to Mr. Putin's promotion of his cronies into the highest reaches of Russia's government and business hierarchies. Indeed, almost half of Russia's GDP is lost to bribes. [1],[2],[3],[4],[5],[6],[7],[8]

Mr. Putin began his presidency vowing to fight "legal nihilism" and took an oath to uphold the Russian Constitution. In practice, despite his legal educational background, he consistently displayed blatant disregard for the Russian Constitution and personally encouraged violations of some of its most sacred principles, including Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Assembly and Human Rights. [9],[10]

Mr. Putin instituted and continues to promote a policy of using vast Russian energy resources as a weapon and as an international blackmail mechanism.

Mr. Putin established the infamous "power vertical," which is nothing more than an organized-crime federal system being operated as corruption and oppression apparatus.

During Mr. Putin's reign, fascist ideology has become widely popular among the Russian youth - in no small part due to Mr. Putin's exploiting nationalist themes.

Under Mr. Putin's domination Russia left the path towards becoming a democratic state and became, in Mr. Putin's parlance, "sovereign democracy" and "controlled democracy." In reality, Mr. Putin turned Russia into a "kleptocracy."

Under Mr. Putin's authoritarian regime most of the independent media outlets were shut down or taken over by the government. As of 2011, all TV stations are controlled by the government; there is a single semi-independent radio station and several low-circulation printed outlets left that represent opposition views.

During Mr. Putin's reign, government-sponsored and taxpayer-financed extremist pro-Kremlin youth groups, known as Putlerjugend, were organized and began to hold regular mass rallies and to attack opposition leaders, both verbally and physically.

In Russia, Mr. Putin and his cronies are above the law. Is it purely coincidental that hundreds of the sharpest and well-informed critics of the regime (opposing politicians, investigative journalists, human rights activists, etc.) have been murdered over the past 10 years of Mr. Putin's autocracy?[4],[11]

Mr. Putin continues to use the Russian [in]Justice System to persecute his political opponents. Recently, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, Russia's most well-known political prisoners, were sentenced to 14 years in a prison camp, after a second trial based on absurd charges. The trial was remarkable for showing the lengths to which the government was prepared to go to make the surreal case that Messrs. Khodorkovsky and Lebedev stole all the oil their company produced. The Kafkaesque trial and extended sentencing of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev completed the transformation of Russia into an authoritarian regime with a permanent political leadership of Mr. Putin. [2],[12],[13],[14],[15],[16],[17],[18],[19],[20],[21]

To ensure his eternal supremacy over Russia, Mr. Putin is plotting the third trial against Mikhail Khodorkovsky. He's been publicly reiterating the bizarre comparison of the political prisoner with Bernard Madoff and Al Capone on several occasions, including the national television. Mr. Putin is brazenly implanting preposterous images of "brains in the garage" and "blood on Khodorkovsky's hands" into people's minds to justify his despicable lawlessness towards Mr. Khodorkovsky. Not only those signals were manifestly reflected in the second sentence, but the lead prosecutors of the second trial have already made a semi-official statement in one of the more prominent pro-Kremlin Russian newspapers about the likelihood of a third trial against Mr. Khodorkovsky. [12],[14],[20],[21]

Putin is above the Russian law. It's a fact. But enough is enough. He is not above the international law. Putin's abuse of Human Rights in Russia is not just a Russian problem. You can make a loud statement to that effect by denying him entry into the Member States of the European Union and to the United States of America. The Russian people are forbidden to express their will under the constant danger of the persecution. Therefore strong sanctions by the West are vital and urgently needed in order to stop the threat coming from the out-of-control Putin's KGB clique.

Current publications:
1 PUTIN: What 10 Years of Putin Have Brought (an independent expert report by B. Nemtsov and V. Milov) http://www.putin-itogi.ru/putin-what-10-years-of-putin-have-brought/
2 The state of Russia: Frost at the core. http://www.economist.com/node/17674075
3 Sergey Kolesnikov's tale of palatial corruption, Russian style http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/22/AR2010122203770.html
4 WikiLeaks cables condemn Russia as 'mafia state' http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/01/wikileaks-cables-russia-mafia-kleptocracy
5 Corruption is forcing Russia's best and brightest to flee the country. http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/14/putin-s-russia-exile-businessmen.html
6 Below Surface, U.S. Has Dim View of Putin and Russia http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/world/europe/02wikileaks-russia.html?pagewanted=all
7 Regional anti-corruption initiative http://www.rai-see.org/news/world/1057-russian-tax-authorities-start-accepting-anti-corruption-calls-from-citizens.html
8 Russian corruption may be half of country's GDP http://www.newstime.co.za/WorldNews/Russian_corruption_may_be_half_of_countrys_GDP/9412/
9 Russian activists jailed over freedom of assembly protest http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/russian-activists-jailed-over-freedom-assembly-protest-2011-01-04
10 The High Price of Journalism in Putin's Russia http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606461059832950.html
11 Alexander Litvinenko murder 'probably had Putin's OK' http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/01/wikileaks-cables-alexander-litvinenko-murder
12 Justice delayed http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2010/12/mikhail_khodorkovskys_trial?page=1
13 A Business Martyr in Putin's Russia http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704648604575620440116413922.html
14 A Prisoner in Putin's Russia http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203731004576045720460065928.html
15 Freedom House Report http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&country=7904&year=2010
16 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Public Statement. Document - Russian Federation: Unfair trial concerns cast doubt on the integrity of the conviction of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev http://amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR46/042/2010/en/d319e0c1-263a-4b52-b961-031cc6febd72/eur460422010en.html
17 43 organizations and 23 prominent individuals dedicated to human rights in Russia have publicly declared Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev political prisoners http://letthemgonow.org/supporting-organizations/
18 Plea for end to Khodorkovsky вpersecution'http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/72e313e8-06ed-11e0-8c29-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1CCRrr84x
19 Davos Man and Khodorkovsky: Lawless states don't attract capital. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704754304576095181932381482.html
20 Putin remarks dash hopes for Khodorkovsky
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b109377c-092e-11e0-ada6-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1CMmh2hr2
21 Khodorkovsky may face third trial - prosecutors http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110124/162266786.html

PLEASE, HAVE THE COURAGE AND THE DECENCY TO DO THE RIGHT THING.