The Russian Foreign Ministry exposes: the United States has suddenly fallen in love with extremists
American researchers deliberately use a policy of double standards in relation to Russia, twisting facts and trying to demonize Moscow.
Official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova stated this at a briefing, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“We drew attention to the latest report of the Commission on International Religious Freedom under the US Congress, released on July 17. It is traditionally replete with Russophobic arguments and biased assessments of the situation in our country.
This time, the authors of this so-called study decided to focus on allegedly overly harsh Russian legislation, which, according to them, infringes on the rights and interests of various religious movements. What examples did they give: Jehovah’s Witnesses and also the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization,” Zakharova said.
“Regarding Jehovah’s Witnesses: perhaps the US is simply not aware, but I would like to draw the attention of our partners to the fact that a court decision recently came into force in Switzerland. It was originally issued in July 2019. Based on this decision, the use of methods by the local organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses that violate fundamental human rights has been recognized,” added the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to her, we are talking about the practice of boycotting people who decide to leave the sect or not follow its instructions from loved ones and relatives, including the practice of boycotting children, about psychological and social pressure on dissidents using various kinds of manipulative methods of influencing consciousness, punishment, about unpunished cases of sexual violence.
“The actual denial of the right to freedom of opinion and conscience to members of the sect also attracted the attention of the Swiss Themis,” noted Zakharova.
Regarding Hizb ut-Tahrir, she recalled that it is an international terrorist organization, which the United States actually agreed with 10 years ago.
“Its activities are prohibited and persecuted not only in Russia, but also in most Arab and European countries. Until recently, the US State Department in its reports itself characterized this organization as promoting the spread of extremist sentiments among Muslims.
All this can be found in the 2009 Country Report on Terrorism. Ten years have passed, and US opinion has changed to the opposite. This happens to them often. In this regard, the concern of our overseas partners about their fate causes considerable surprise,” added the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Returning to Jehovah’s Witnesses: Russia remains unchanged in its position. Any non-governmental organizations operating on the territory of our country, including religious ones, must respect and comply with Russian legislation. Unfortunately, representatives of this structure continue to openly make calls not to comply with the laws of the Russian Federation. From our point of view, this is unacceptable,” Zakharova emphasized.
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