Ella Mikhaylovna Polyakova (russian: Элла Михайловна Полякова; born 7 February 1941) is a Russian human rights activist, a member of President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime m ...

's advisory council on human rights. She is also a leader of non-governmental organization Soldiers' Mothers of

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Opinions on Ukrainian crisis

At a situation, when Kremlin consistently denies involvement in the conflict in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

, Polyakova openly talked about dead and wounded Russian soldiers and also called the Russian intrusion an "invasion". ''"When masses of people, under commanders' orders, on tanks, APCs and with the use of heavy weapons, (are) on the territory of another country, cross the border, I consider this an invasion,"'' Ella Polyakova said on 29 August 2014. She has also said more than 100 Russian soldiers were killed in eastern Ukraine in a single battle in August 2014 while helping pro-Russian separatists fight Ukrainian troops. According to her, around 300 people were also wounded in the same incident near the town of Snizhnye, when a column of trucks they were driving, full of ammunition, was hit by a sustained volley of

Grad missiles The BM-21 "Grad" (russian: БМ-21 "Град", lit= hail) is a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union. The system and the M-21OF rocket were first developed in the early 1960s, and saw their first combat ...

Awards

* Galina Starovoitova Peace Prize (1999) * (2004) * (2010)

References

External links

Russian NGO branded as 'foreign agent' after reporting on Russian military action in Ukraine
Amnesty.org, 29. 8. 2014
Soldiers' Mothers of St. Petersburg
web site. Russian human rights activists Living people 1941 births Women human rights activists {{Russia-bio-stub