US Rebukes Against Russia in Human Rights Sphere Are Unacceptable, Ambassador to US Says

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Washington has recently imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and organisations over the alleged mistreatment of Russian vlogger Alexey Navalny. Moscow, in its turn, said it was already preparing reciprocal measures it will introduce in response to the new US sanctions.
The United States' rebukes against Russia on human rights are unacceptable, the Russian ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said on Thursday.

"First, flat demands are made that we should plead guilty for the alleged "poisoning" of Navalny with a chemical weapon. At the same time, any counter arguments we put forward and requests for fact-based information we make are brushed off without any reasonable explanation. Then the US authorities impose yet another set of sanctions against Russia, never bothering to present evidence," the diplomat said.

"It would be in the interests of our countries to unite efforts in countering the coronavirus pandemic, terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, climate change, as well as in joint space exploration, environmental protection in the Arctic", the ambassador said.

The diplomat also stressed that the proposal of Russian President Vladimir Putin on a wider program of cooperation on international information security was still on the table.