The dialogue between Russia and the United States can only be equal and must not amount to lectures on democracy-building, says the Foreign Ministry’s envoy for human rights.
“If they want to lecture us on how we should build our democracy, I suggest they rather deliver such lectures in some US university,” Konstantin Dolgov told reporters on Tuesday.
The official noted the Russian Presidential Commission had a special group for the development of civil society that sought cooperation with US rights organizations. However, the American side expressed concern over human rights and decided to freeze cooperation. “This was simply illogical,” Doldov said.
The envoy said the Russian side “shed no tears” over the US decision, adding that civil societies from both nations remained in touch. He pointed out that Russia has recently received signals from the United States on possible resumption of dialogue. “We are of course fully prepared for such dialogue,” Dolgov said.
However, the envoy also outlined major problems that remained in Russia-US relations regards human rights. These involved scandals with adopted Russian children, who were abused and sometimes even killed by their US foster parents. Another sticking point is the repeated arrests of Russian citizens in other countries and their subsequent transportation for trial in the US, which is in violation of the norms of international law.
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