|
Russia angry with U.S. human rights report
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-03 09:21
Russia accused the United States of double standards Wednesday in an angry
response to a U.S. State Department report that criticized Moscow's human rights
record.
The State Department's annual report on human rights, published Monday, cited
what it said were credible reports that Russian law enforcement officers engaged
in torture, violence and other brutal or humiliating treatment, particularly in
Russia's conflict against rebels in Chechnya.
The U.S. report also cited evidence of increased media restrictions,
shortcomings in recent national elections, police corruption and political
pressure on the judiciary.
The U.S criticism "once again gives us grounds to say that double standards
are characteristic of the American approach to this important topic," the
Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"The entire report smacks of political bias," the statement said.
The ministry said the U.S. report ignored Moscow's concerns about the
treatment of ethnic Russian minorities in the former Soviet Baltic states.
It said the United States was itself guilty of human rights violations,
including ill-treatment of Iraqi detainees, racial discrimination and disputed
presidential elections — an apparent reference to President George Bush's
victory in the 2000 election, which was marred by a lengthy legal battle over
the results in the decisive state of Florida.
"These conclusions concerning our country can in no way be described as
objective. They are based on the distortion of facts and sometimes on rumors,"
the ministry said.
The U.S. study was issued four days after Bush raised Russia's democracy and
human rights record with President Vladimir Putin during a meeting in
Slovakia.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top World
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
