Moscow, 3 August: Well-known human rights organizations will not take part in the Russian Public Chamber, chairwoman of the Moscow-Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseyeva told Interfax today.

"There is nothing for rights activists to do there. We have the Council for Promoting the Development of the Institutions of a Civil Society and Human Rights under the Russian president and the Human Rights Commissioner," she said.

"The Moscow-Helsinki Group and Memorial have openly said that they will be not be part of the Public Chamber. But this does not mean that if someone from one of the regional human rights organizations becomes a member we will hold them in contempt. We have nothing against that," Alekseyeva said.

She said that the Public Chamber will not control the activities of the authorities. "A powerless body appointed by the authorities themselves will not be able to control the authorities. It is not a controlling but an advisory body," she said.

"But this doesn't mean that the Public Chamber is not needed at all. The leaders of social organizations will be able to put it to good use - they have no channel for communicating with our executive authorities and with the help of the Public Chamber they will be able to solve their problems," Alekseyeva said.