Russia would not tolerate independent reckoning of its past

The Memorial Human Rights Center, the daughter organisation of International Memorial, was founded as Gorbachev allowed reporting on Stalin's million of victims - its closure shows that "Russian civil society being dismantled at lightning speed", according to The Guardian.

This was a bad year for rights in Russia, International Memorial's closure stands out for its ruthlessness. 

Criminals in the Kreml can do nothing but try to stay in power by any means so that they are not hold accountable for their colossal crimes they have committed - with the change of power.