17 April 2007
Gorbachev criticizes State Department human rights report
The U.S. State Department's recent report which deals, among other things, with the human rights situation in Russia, infringes on the principle of Russia's sovereignty, Mikhail Gorbachev, the president of the Foundation for Socioeconomic and Political Studies, said.
"A sovereign state cannot live using patterns imposed on it. We must adopt a clear-cut position: we won't accept any guidelines," Gorbachev told a roundtable conference in Moscow on Tuesday.
Previously, the CIA would channel money to opposition forces in the countries picked by the State Department. Now opposition forces are being financed through a system of various institutions and funds, he said. "This probably explains why such organizations have been mushrooming in this country," he said.
"We must assume a clear-cut position: democratic processes must grow on national soil. Only this way will they be effective and influence the situation in the country," Gorbachev said.
