Clinton: Russian Rights Record Threatens Progress
By VOA News
14 October 2009
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says attacks on journalists and human rights defenders in Russia is a "great concern" that threatens progress toward democratic freedoms.
Clinton spoke Wednesday in Moscow to university students, as she wrapped up a five-day tour of Europe. She said people should be free to take "unpopular positions" and, in her words, to "challenge abuses of authority."
Earlier, she told Ekho Moskvy radio that she raised the issue of the killing of journalists in a meeting Tuesday with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev.
She called the unsolved killings a serious challenge to a "fair functioning of a society."
Western governments have continued to pressure Moscow on human rights, since the 2006 unsolved murder of journalist and Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya.
Moscow has also been criticized for the unsolved killings of several human rights activists in Chechnya, including the kidnap-murder of noted activist Natalya Estemirova earlier this year.
Separately, as Clinton spoke of political freedoms Wednesday, a group of opposition Russian lawmakers walked out of parliament to protest alleged fraud in local elections this week.
The lawmakers demanded a recount of vote tallies showing broad wins for members of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party.
Clinton is ending her Russia visit in Tatarstan, an ethnically diverse republic east of Moscow with a large Muslim population.
Tuesday, she called for closer U.S. ties with Russia, after talks with with President Medvedev. She emphasized the need for the U.S. and Russia to work together on key issues, including Iran, North Korea and nuclear arms control.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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