Russian report on human rights in U.S. indicates that American democracy is not perfect

(Interfax – October 29, 2012) The first report of the Russian Foreign Ministry on the observation of human rights in the United States aims to show that the U.S. also has certain problems with democracy, Ministry Ombudsman for Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law Konstantin Dolgov said in an interview published by Kommersant on Monday.

“Actually, the U.S. and EU countries deem themselves invulnerable from the democracy standpoint. We want to show to the public that this is not so. It is important for us to show that they also have problems. These are serious problems and they must be talked about,” he said.

The report focused on the U.S. “because the Americans unjustly present themselves as the absolute authority and unquestionable leader in the field of democracy and human rights,” Dolgov said.

“They are trying to teach other countries how to build democracy. Frequently their attempts verge on direct interference in internal affairs. Alas, Russia has experienced them, too,” the ministry representative said.

The Russian report does not intervene in U.S. affairs or violate its sovereignty, he stressed. “If we had started to finance certain activity of U.S. NGOs operating in the political sector, that might have been described as meddling with internal affairs,” he said.