(RIA Novosti) - Russia is ready for a human rights dialogue but will not allow it to be used as a means of political pressure, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.
Russia has been censured in the West for an alleged lack of democracy, particularly for a new law on nongovernmental organizations, the abolition of direct gubernatorial elections, a purported media clampdown and using energy to "blackmail" other countries. Some U.S. senators even urged President Bush to refuse to attend the Group of Eight summit in Russia unless Putin improved his country's democratic record, reports Trend.
However, the Russian leader told a conference of the Council of Europe's top prosecutors, "We are open for an honest and non-politicized dialogue on human rights issues and want it to be aimed at resolving concrete problems."
The president met with representatives of rights organizations Tuesday at a conference attended by more than 700 delegates and he reiterated Moscow's position to the European law officers.
"But the use of human rights issues for political pressure and other immediate goals is unacceptable for us," he said.
"Russia intends to strengthen the system of constitutional guarantees, human rights and freedoms and to cooperate more closely with international human rights organizations," Putin said.
He also said approaches to assessing developments in all European countries, including in Russia, had to be unified for human rights work and he highlighted the role of prosecutors in these activities.