MOSCOW, February 27, /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry will give a tough and uncompromised response to violations of compatriots’ rights by foreign states. This was stressed at the meeting of the Foreign Ministry’s panel on the theme of “Contemporary tendencies of international cooperation in human rights and the tasks of the Russian Foreign Ministry in this sphere”. The meeting was presided over by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

It was noted that the human rights dimension had become indispensible to any debate at major international fora at the universal and regional levels. Encouragement and protection of human rights is regarded as part and parcel of the discussion of the most burning problems of the present: ensurance of international security, adoption of the social and economic strategy of development, environmental protection, disarmament, the fight against organized crime and terrorism, regulation of the internet space.

The ways of increasing Russia’s participation in international cooperation on the entire range of human rights problems were discussed in the framework of the tasks of Russia’s foreign policy. The need to promote a mutually respectful and constructive dialogue in this area, without politization, confrontation and double standards was emphasized.

The situation in Ukraine was discussed in the context of the human rights theme. Concern was expressed over massive violations of human rights in Ukraine, the flouting of the right to use the mother tongue, ethnic and national discrimination, attacks and vandalism directed at objects of historic and cultural heritage and religious cults.