MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. It cannot be ruled out that Western opponents of Moscow were behind the insufficient number of votes that Russia received at the election to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Russian State Duma’s Committee on International Affairs, told TASS.
"I do not rule out that special work was carried out among UN General Assembly delegates by our opponents on discrediting Russia, now in the sphere of human rights. Thus, the insufficient number of votes that Russia got was very likely provoked," Slutsky said.
It was earlier reported that Russia was not re-elected to UNHRC and will leave it after its mandate expires at the end of 2016. During the voting that took place at UN General Assembly on Friday, Russia’s candidacy was supported by 112 member countries, while its rivals in the East European group — Hungary and Croatia — earned 144 and 114 votes respectively.
Slutsky noted that Russia "is far from being the last country at the flank of fighting for human rights." "We will continue cooperation at other leading international platforms in this sphere, we are absolutely open," he added.
"Everything is fine with human rights in Russia. I say this as a head of one of the largest non-governmental organizations — the Russian Peace Foundation, which has the highest status of accreditation at the United Nations Economic and Social Council," the lawmaker noted.
At the same time, Slutsky thinks that Russia may return its place at UN HRC next year, but this will "require hard work." "In order to be re-elected to UN HRC next year, we have to work hard, especially considering the fact that we face counteraction even here. We will work not only at being re-elected but also at clearly demonstrating the situation with human rights in Russia, which is by far not the worst," he concluded.