Putin calls for support of human rights activists

Russia Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Saturday called on politicians in Russia's autonomous North Caucasus region to support human rights activists working there, dpa reported.

In a meeting in the northern Caucasian administrative centre of Pyatigorsk, Putin requested that local authorities to do everything in their power to make safe the work of rights activists who were operating "within the law," the Interfax news agency reported.

The Russian human rights organization Memorial welcomed Putin's statement.

"I hope that there are not merely empty words, but that actions follow," said Memorial spokesman Oleg Orlov on the radio broadcaster Echo Moskvy.

In August, activist Natalia Estemirova was murdered in Chechnya. Orlov has blamed Chechen President Ramsan Kadyrov for the crime, which has not yet be solved.