Masked men set fire to Russian rights group office

MOSCOW: Two masked men set fire to the office of top Russian rights group Memorial in volatile Ingushetia a week after the arrest of its director in neighbouring Chechnya, the group said on Wednesday. Computers and documents were destroyed in the attack, according to a statement on Memorial’s website.

Memorial said a CCTV camera recorded the two men entering its office building at night in Nazran, a town in the Republic of Ingushetia in the North Caucasus, and throwing canisters into the group’s work place through an internal window.

Footage seen by AFP shows a man in a balaclava using a ladder to enter the two story high building. The group published photos of the aftermath of the fire, including a photo of a bottle it believes contained a flammable substance.