Speaking about the first month in office, Mr Lukin said human rights protection had always been a difficult enterprise in Russia. "A lot of successes have been achieved and a lot of failures experienced on this path. However, we must not stop. We simply must move on in this direction," said Mr Lukin.
Mr Lukin said he had received 3,300 complaints over the first month in office, whereas his predecessors received an average of 1,000 complaints a month. The ombudsman explains the growth in the number of complaints by an extensive publicity of his appointment and expects the complaints to continue growing in number.
Mr Lukin said there are 176 employees in his office, which is not enough, as 60 people work in the ombudsman's office in the Czech Republic with its population of 9,000,000 whereas as many as 148 million people live in Russia.
Mr Lukin emphasized he was going to step up contacts with non-government rights organizations and hold regular meetings with the press - once in two months.
