Pre-election heat?

The Russian Ministry for Emergencies has lodged an application with a Moscow court to suspend for 90 days the activities of the Russian Union of Journalists. This it claims is due to infringements of fire safety norms in the building on Zubovsky Boulevard. According to a representative of the court, the material submitted cites 14 infringements.

The fire safety people say that not all parts of the building are equipped with an alarm system, and not all the doors to the evacuation exits open freely.

According to the General Secretary of the Union of Journalists Igor Yakovenko, the fire officers are constantly inspecting the building and finding new things to criticize. He says that “it is obviously an attempt to use trumped up pretexts in order to deprive the Union of Journalists of their premises”.

The Union of Journalists is a civic non-political organization with over 100 thousand members in Russia and is aimed at protecting journalists’ interests.

From www.grani.ru and www.bbc.co.uk/russian