Russia Dismisses U.S. Human Rights Report

The Foreign Ministry indignantly dismissed U.S. criticism of Russia's human rights record Friday, saying the United States was guilty of its own abuses from Afghanistan to "the streets of America."

In a statement laced with sarcasm, the Foreign Ministry said the main purpose of what it called the U.S. State Department's annual "opus" on human rights worldwide was to "solve the internal political problems of the American establishment."

The Russia section of the State Department released a report Thursday that said the North Caucasus remained "an area of particular concern" in 2009 and the government's poor human rights record there worsened as it fought Islamist militants.

"In Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, the number of extrajudicial killings and disappearances increased markedly, as did the number of attacks on law enforcement personnel," the report said. "Authorities in the North Caucasus appeared to act outside of federal government control.

"Federal and local security forces in Chechnya, as well as private militia of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, allegedly targeted families of suspected insurgents for reprisal and committed other abuses," it said.

The report also noted a number of high-profile killings of human rights activists.

"Eight journalists, many of whom reported critically on the government, were killed during the year; with one exception, the government failed to identify, arrest or prosecute any subjects. Beating and intimidation of journalists remained a problem," it said.

The government also limited freedom of association and restricted religious groups, and corruption was widespread throughout the executive, legislative and judicial branches, it said.

This year's report came amid efforts to mend Russian-U.S. ties, which hit a post-Cold War low after Russia's war with U.S.-supported Georgia in August 2008.

The Foreign Ministry said that despite those efforts, the United States was using human rights as a tool "to forward quite concrete, material foreign policy interests."

"Everything in the report fits tradition and ritual — the approaches, the theses, the conclusions, the sources," it said. "In this area we noticed no big difference, despite the current [U.S.] administration's declared 'reset' in our relations."

As in past years, Russia said the United States had no right to lecture others. The Foreign Ministry said it was looking forward to a U.S. report on human rights in the United States and singled out U.S. military prisons in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.

"It would be interesting to learn how [the State Department], which loves to moralize on the issue of human rights, would comment on torture and inhumane or humiliating treatment in the United States itself," the statement said.

"And not just the widely known cases in Bagram and the special prison in Guantanamo — which, contrary to the administration's promises, just doesn't close — but also in the prisons and on the streets of America," it said.

A report on rights in the United States should not omit "domestic violence leading to the murder of children, including those adopted in Russia," as well as "racism and xenophobia toward migrants, and Islamophobia," it said.