Soviet dissident and Nobel Prize winner Sakharov remembered

Andrei Sakharov -- one of the fathers of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, as well as a dissident, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner -- is commemorated across Russia on the 20th anniversary of his death.
Timed to coincide with the date, a two-day international conference, “Andrei Sakharov’s Ideas Today,” has started in Moscow. In a telegram that President Dmitry Medvedev sent to greet the participants, he paid tribute to “the world-famous scientist and human rights activist,” saying his ideas are at the forefront of political activism in Russia.