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#19 - JRL 2007-84 - JRL Home
Analyst Say State Department's Report Interference In Russian Affairs

MOSCOW. April 9 (Interfax) - The U.S. State Department's report "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy" is actually an attempt to create grounds to declare forthcoming elections in Russia illegitimate, head of the Russian Public Chamber's Commission on International Cooperation and Public Diplomacy Vyacheslav Nikonov told Interfax on Monday.

"This report seemed to me more sincere that others. Unlike previous reports offering a general outlook on rights abuses and support to democratic processes in Russia, this one contains concrete figures and specifies which organization should do what: in short, it provides a detailed mechanism for influencing Russian policies," the analyst said.

He said he suspected the sincerity was "deliberate."

"Simply, when it turns out that some organizations violate Russian laws, and, as you know, foreign interference in election processes in Russia is prohibited, they will kick up a fuss in an attempt to de- legitimize parliamentary and presidential polls. There are all pre- requisites for that," Nikonov said, adding that some of the phrases in the report can be regarded as interference in Russia's internal affairs.

Executive Director of the Free Elections Fund Andrei Przhezdomsky, commenting on the report, noted, for his part, that one shouldn't go too far in trying to assist Russia.

"Russia certainly appreciates the attention and support of international and American nongovernmental organizations to Russian civil society institutes - this is great help for democracy. But on the other hand, a sense of measure is necessary," he told Interfax.

"Teaching us what to do in our own country oversteps the boundaries of political decency," Przhezdomsky said.

"Speaking of the United States, which is facing not just external, but also very serious internal problems, the solutions to most of these problems are far from exemplary," he said.