[scroll down pg. for 3 more items including Vinci response]...Vinci...won a tender for the construction...of...the Moscow – St. Petersburg motorway in Russia. The project has encountered determined opposition from local people...due to cut through the nearby Khimki Forest Park...[T]he violence and harassment...has been dealt to the opponents of the current routing...[W]hen...local activists established a camp in the woods to protect the forest...they were attacked by men in masks...The Director of Teplotekhnik Alexander Semchenko later confessed to reporters that he had hired these people to provoke the activists...[T]here is no evidence that Vinci's staff have been directly involved in any of the human rights abuses...However the company has...not undertaken sufficient steps to prevent human rights abuses and...has therefore made itself complicit in these abuses...Even if Vinci...did not know about human rights abuses associated with the project when it signed the concession contract, the abuses have intensified since July 2010 and the company is aware of the situation...Louis- Roch Burgard, CEO of Vinci Concessions [said]..."We are dealing with tens of projects in France, Europe and throughout the world and sometimes some projects face opposition. It is not the source of concern for us, otherwise we should be changing business". [The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Vinci, Teplotekhnik and the security firms Vityaz and Altair to respond. Vinci's response is below. Teplotekhnik, Vityaz and Altair declined to respond.]