The 2008 US Report on Human Rights was unveiled yesterday, and it made some pretty stark conclusions about Russia. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, issued a pretty formulaic response, telling Reuters that  “We have problems in this sphere (human rights), but we honestly talk about them and, what’s more, we ourselves publish annual reports on the state of things there. We believe all other countries ought to apply the same approach.”

From the State Department report:
 

“Continuing centralization of power in the executive branch, a compliant State Duma, corruption and selectivity in enforcement of the law, media restrictions, and harassment of some NGOs eroded the government’s accountability to its citizens. The government restricted opposition political parties’ ability to participate in the political process. The March presidential election was marked by problems during the campaign period and on election day, as reported by independent Russian and European observers, including the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which included the abuse of government resources, media bias in favor of the ruling party and its candidate, authorities’ refusal to register opposition party candidates, lack of equal opportunity for conducting campaigns, and ballot fraud…Violence against women and children were problems, and domestic violence was widespread. Trafficking in persons continued to be a significant problem. There was some governmental discrimination and widespread societal discrimination as well as racially motivated attacks against ethnic minorities and dark-skinned immigrants or guest-workers. During the year there was a steady rise in xenophobic, racial, and ethnic attacks and hate crimes, particularly by skinheads, nationalists, and right-wing extremists. Instances of forced labor were also reported.”