Police operation to prevent riots in Moscow's Biryulyovo does not violate Russia's intl commitments - diplomat
MOSCOW. Oct 19 (Interfax) - The actions taken by Russian law enforcement agencies to put an end to riots in the Western Biryulyovo neighborhood in Moscow and punish their organizers last week do not oblige Russian authorities to give any assurances at the political level, Russian Foreign Ministry Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law Konstantin Dolgov said.
"Resolute and professional measures that Russian law enforcement agencies took to put an end to the riots in Western Biryulyovo in southern Moscow and punish their instigators do not violate Russia's international commitments in any way and do not require additional assurances at the political level from the Russian authorities," Dolgov said when asked by media to comment on a German Foreign Ministry spokesperson's remarks on the matter.
"By the way, the statement by an official representative of the German Foreign Ministry that the Russian side was earlier informed about Berlin's concerns on this matter at different levels does not reflect the reality," he said.
"We would like to point out to our partners that right-extremist, neo-Nazi, and xenophobic sentiments are continuing to grow and strengthen in Germany itself as well as in other parts of 'democratic Europe'. This can be confirmed, in particular, by the activity of the so-called national-socialist underground, whose members managed to kill foreigners with impunity for years. Judging by the unhurried judicial proceedings on this case in Germany, the German authorities do not fully realize this danger," Dolgov said.
"It is also worth recalling that human rights organizations seriously criticize the conditions in which refugees are held in the Federal Republic of Germany, who are legislatively restricted in their rights for the period during which their request for asylum is considered, which may last for years," Dolgov said.
"In particular, the matter involves the ban on leaving the territory of a district in this or that federal state where such a person has been placed and on being employed and having access to education, appropriate medical help and so on," he said.
"Therefore, our German partners, to put it mildly, have something to deal with as concerns the observance of human rights and the rule of law principle in their own country," Dolgov said.
