Russian Foreign Ministry Notes "Unprecedented Level of Russophobia in the British Establishment"

The chapter on Russia in the Human Rights and Democracy Report, which the UK Foreign Office updated a few days ago, has the same flaws as previous reports. It exhibits the same selective and formulaic assessments, disregard for facts and double standards, which London and some other Western capitals have been known to use.

Frankly, the report is so biased, politicised and driven by the unprecedented level of Russophobia in the British establishment, that no comments on our part will do any good.

But this is not what concerns us. What concerns us is that the UK government, while lecturing other countries on how to develop democracy, remains silent about its own problems in this area. And indeed there are many, as evidenced, in part, by the results of the Universal Periodic Review Second Cycle in the UK, conducted under the auspices of the UN Human Rights Council. Over 130 recommendations have been made to address human rights problems in the UK. However, political manoeuvring often hinders attempts to explain the country’s numerous human rights violations. A recent example is the latest delay in the publication of the report by the Chilcot Commission, which conducted a public inquiry into the UK’s involvement in the Iraq War.

In light of this, I would recommend that my UK colleagues take a more self-critical attitude and finally acknowledge the need to combat the brazen Nazi ideologies that are growing stronger in Ukraine and the EU in the fertile soil of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, intolerance of dissent, Islamophobia and infringement on the rights of national and ethnic minorities.

It is these real challenges to human rights and rule of law, rather than endless chimeras, that the UK and other Western countries should deal with. If they can show the requisite political will and realism, Russia will be a loyal ally in this undertaking.

Yeah, but who would trust a Russian??