Russian MP Slams Foreign Human Rights Bodies’ Reports Criticizing Country

Russian Duma Building

(RIA Novosti – April 24, 2013) The head of the inter-factional group of MPs for cooperation of institutions of civil society with law-enforcement bodies, Mikhail Starshinov, considers the Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International organizations to be hostages of their stereotypes and has said that their reports are politicized, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported on 24 April.

On 24 April, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International published reports in which they criticized, in particular, a number of Russian laws and called on the European Union to develop a unified position in this respect.

“The reports of these human rights organization do not differ much from their previous ‘studies’ about our country. Nothing changes – conclusions are still the same, stereotypes are the same,” RIA Novosti quoted Starshinov, who is an MP from the ruling One Russia (United Russia) party, as saying.

Starshinov also said that he was not surprised that the authors of the reports had not taken into account the broad public discussion that had taken place at the time the bills, which were adopted in Russia over the past year and which were criticized by the two organizations, were considered by the State Duma, that the results of opinion polls had been ignored. “This is simply not advantageous for them,” Starshinov said.

“As for the appeal by the human rights defenders to the Council of Europe, I hope that in delivering any assessments colleagues will be guided not by deliberately politicized reports, but will finally show objectivity,” RIA Novosti quoted Starshinov as saying.

“Representatives of Russia have already explained – at various European platforms on more than one occasion – the meaning of changes in our legislation and recently it was the Russian president who dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s. If this is not sufficient either, then we continue to be ready for dialogue, but this should be precisely dialogue and not peremptory accusations,” Starshinov said, as quoted by RIA Novosti.

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