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US human rights report abounds in politicized stereotypes — Russian Foreign Ministry

The section dedicated to Russia is written in "an a priori negativist manner," according to the ministry
Russian Foreign Ministry Gennadiy Khamelyanin/TASS
Russian Foreign Ministry
© Gennadiy Khamelyanin/TASS

MOSCOW, April 23. /TASS/. The latest annual Human Rights Report issued by the US Department of State abounds in politicized assessments, including in what concerns Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

"The annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released by the US Department of State on April 20, like the previous ones, abounds in politicized assessments and blunt ideology-driven clichйs," the ministry said. "As concerns Russia, regrettably, Washington has failed to get rid of Russophobic stereotypes. Thus, the section dedicated to Russia is written in an a priori negativist manner, ignoring Russia’s repeated comprehensive explanations on concrete human rights cases in Russia that have been made both publicly and in sectoral international human rights organizations."

The report gives "cynical assessments of the human rights situation bordering on direct insults in respect of national authorities of sovereign states," the ministry said. "Such an approach was no surprise to the Russian side as it fits well into the US practices of double standards in what concerns human rights depending on how loyal this of that state is to Washington’s foreign policy course and its methods of protecting democracy and human rights."

"The report’s authors are shunning any means to form a lasting negative attitude to Russia as the biggest human rights violators. Seeking to make this idea more convincing, Washington uses a hackneyed set of accusations copied, to a larger extent, from the previous reports, and tailored facts," the ministry stressed.

The ministry also drew attention to another "exemplary" element: "the blame for the degrading human rights situation in Ukraine is eventually placed on Russia," despite the fact that large-scale flagrant violations of human rights in that country are being hushed up, with no calls to improve this situation.

Such an approach is inadmissible "for a report claiming to be objective," the ministry stressed.

However, "the unfavorable situation with human rights, democracy and the supremacy of law in the United States" is left beyond the scope of the report, the ministry noted. "Growing systemic problems, including deep-rooted racial discrimination, unprecedented scope of xenophobic ideas and activities of extremist organizations, impunity for inhumane treatment and tortures under CIA special programs, mass wiretapping in the United States and in other countries, as well as other acute challenges in this sphere are being ignored."

"It’s high time the US authorities seriously address these problems at home, listen to numerous strong recommendations from relevant intergovernmental structures and human rights activists rather than indulge in moralizing on those who don’t need it," the ministry underscored.