As human rights defenders report, situation with civil society and human rights in Russia is in the worst condition it has ever been during the post-Soviet history of the Russian Federation. 

In this connection, we call the leaders and politicians of the European Union not to attend the Winter Olympic Games to be held in 2014 in Sochi and not to participate in activities related to the event.

In recent years President Vladimir Putin has significantly limited the rights to freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, is actively and violently persecuting the opposition. The Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation adopts laws restricting civil liberties. The opposition media are persecuted and non-governmental organizations stigmatized as a "foreign agent".

Our goal is not the boycott of the Winter Olympic Games, but political protest against Putin’s regime, who uses the Winter Olympics for propaganda purposes.

We sincerely hope that the leaders and politicians of EU member states, for whom civil and political liberties should be a fundamental value, will join the action and thereby contribute to the efforts of the international community and the Russian opposition in their struggle for the restoration of democracy in Russia.

The campaign "Olympic Shames" was supported by:

- Pavel Khodorkovsky –  the president of the Institute of Modern Russia, son of Russia's political prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky;

- Vladimir Bukovsky - writer, political activist;

- Lev Ponomaryov – human rights defender, director of the All-Russian Movement For Human Rights;

- Vladimir Kara-Murza – expert of  the Institute of Modern Russia, member of the Coordinating Council of the Russian Opposition;

- Boris Nemtsov, Co-Chairman of the Republican Party of Russia–People’s Freedom Party (RPR–PARNAS), former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia

- Irina Grivnina -  Russian dissident, writer, literary critic;

and organizations:

- the All-Russian Movement For Human Rights (Russia)
- Östgruppen – the Swedish Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (Sweden)

Petition in other languages:

Liderzy Unii Europejskiej: Nie jedźcie do Soczi!

Лидеры Евросоюза: Не приезжайте в Сочи!