MOSCOW, February 20 (RIA Novosti) - The executive director of the international rights organization Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that Russia's Foreign Ministry had denied him an entry visa.
Kenneth Roth said on the phone from New York during the Moscow presentation of a report on the state of civil society in Russia that the Russian foreign ministry had changed the requirements necessary for the issuance of his visa.
Roth had planned to personally attend the presentation of the report, entitled 'Choking on Bureaucracy: State Curbs on Independent Civil Society Activism'. He also said it was the first time he had been denied a Russian visa since the Soviet era.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the issue of a visa for Roth was beyond its competence.
