MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. Russia holds nothing against educational and humanitarian exchange programs with the United States, but cooperation in this sphere must be equal and not contradictory to the Russian laws, a senior official with the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
Russian Foreign Ministry's Special Representative for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law Konstantin Dolgov’s comment came in the wake of Russia’s withdrawal from US-sponsored student exchange program FLEX.
“The Russian Foreign Ministry repeatedly drew attention of the [US] Department of State to the necessity of observing the rights of adolescent Russian citizens traveling to the United States to live in American host families with the aim of improving the level of their English language [knowledge],” Dolgov said.