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.