The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by Sergei Lavrov, criticized the European Union on Monday for accusing it of "instrumentalizing Human Rights to pressure Russia," an attitude it has described as "cynical" and which, it claims, occurs while "intolerance is constantly growing" in the European bloc, "with an increase in cases of racism and hate speech," and the community institutions "ignore and even tolerate Russophobia."
In a press appearance, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, stated that "the EU openly declares its efforts to instrumentalize Human Rights to pressure Russia" while commenting on the report by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Estonian Kaja Kallas, on Human Rights and democracy in the world for 2025, made public at the end of August.
The Russian representative denounced that the "level of criticism" towards different countries is not determined "by the real situation, but by the degree of loyalty of each State to the EU," reproaching Brussels for having assumed the "illusory role of (...) 'global defender of Human Rights'."
Zakharova cited as an example "the section on Ukraine, completely ineffective and, in some aspects, laudatory: a country mired in corruption, anarchy, and neo-Nazism," which, in her opinion, illustrates the lack of impartiality of the document.
In this regard, she considered it "revealing that Brussels no longer even hides its use of the Human Rights agenda to openly interfere in the internal affairs of States that pursue independent policies" by admitting, she said, to having allocated significant resources to "support civil society, media, journalists, and activists in certain countries with the aim of influencing their internal political situation and their foreign policy."
Regarding the section on Russia, the spokesperson lamented that it has been prepared from a "war-time approach" that would serve, in Moscow's view, for the EU to "apparently 'justify' both its blatant lies" about Russia and "its double standards" and "its cover-up of violations of the rights" of Russian citizens within the bloc.
Criticism of the Human Rights situation in the EU and the Baltic countries
Zajarova described the conclusions of Kaja Kallas's team as "particularly cynical" if one takes into account, according to her version, "the context of the constant deterioration of the human rights situation in the European Union itself and its member states."
For the spokesperson, "intolerance is constantly growing" in the Twenty-Seven, "with an increase in cases of racism and hate speech." In her opinion, "European institutions completely ignore, and even sometimes tolerate, Russophobia, including its most hateful manifestations."
The Russian diplomat also lashed out at "the shameful phenomenon of statelessness in the Baltic countries and the deprivation of the local Russian-speaking population of the right to education in their mother tongue," referring to the hundreds of thousands of residents without nationality, especially in Estonia and Latvia, where upon regaining independence after the fall of the Soviet Union, citizenship was restored only to those who resided there before 1940 and their descendants, following the principles of state continuity and 'jus sanguinis.'
This decision left many migrants who arrived during the Soviet period in a state of legal limbo, with status as 'undetermined citizenship' or 'non-citizens,' which entail significant restrictions on political participation, total or partial absence of the right to vote, as well as consular limitations and restrictions on free movement within the Schengen area.
On the other hand, Zajarova maintained that, although "externally" the European Union "proclaims its commitment to the principles of democracy and the rule of law," within its borders measures are being taken "to suppress any form of dissent, including censorship and the prohibition of media and political actors considered undesirable and critical of the current policies of Brussels."
In her view, "under the pretext of 'ensuring the sustainability of democracy,' European officials are working to create a controllable sociopolitical environment, strictly regulating the information space and the will of citizens," referring to the joint report from Belarus and Russia "on the real situation of human rights in Europe, including Ukraine," published in June by the foreign ministries of Moscow and Minsk.