The US State Department routinely criticized Russia in its annual Report on Human Rights Practices released on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th March, 2020) The US State Department routinely criticized Russia in its annual Report on Human Rights Practices released on Wednesday.
The report alleged that Russia engaged in human rights violations that include unjustified arrests, privacy infringements, cruel and life-threatening conditions in prisons, torture, extrajudicial killings as well as the suppressing of freedom of speech and the right to assembly.
The State Department described the political system in Russia as "authoritarian" and "highly centralized," with a legislature that lacks "independence from the executive."
The report claimed there is "widespread corruption at all levels and in all branches of government."
The State Department said it deplores the "severe restrictions" imposed on religious freedom and on participation in the political process in Russia as well as the refoulement of refugees.
The State Department also condemned the practices of "coerced abortion and sterilization; trafficking in persons; and crimes involving violence or threats of violence against persons with disabilities, LGBTI [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex] persons and members of ethnic minorities."
In addition, the State Department criticized the reunification of Crimea with Russia and the alleged Russian support for militias in eastern Ukraine, which Moscow denies.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs repeatedly refuted most of the State Department's criticisms and issued its own reports on human rights violations abroad.
The latest report says that there has been an deterioration in the human rights situation in the United States as compared to year 2018, leaving much to be desired.
Specifically, the report criticized the United States for racism and discrimination of immigrants; rampant xenophobia and a rise of extremism; bias in the judicial system, ill-treatment of prisoners; mass surveillance of citizens; control and suppression of the media; and an "imperfect" electoral system.
