MOSCOW DEFENDS ARREST OF NIKITIN.

Russia’s Federal Security Service said yesterday that it has observed all relevant legal norms in its arrest and detainment of Aleksandr Nikitin, the retired naval officer charged with espionage for his participation in a study critical of nuclear waste management in Russia’s Northern Fleet. The security service dismissed Amnesty International’s recent designation of Nikitin as a "prisoner of conscience." Nikitin has been imprisoned since February. (Itar-Tass, September 11. See also Monitor, September 4)

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