Stung by Criticism, Russian Lawmakers Point to Human Rights Abuses in U.S.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/23/world/europe/russian-lawmakers-cite-us-rights-abuses.html

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MOSCOW — During a day of old-school America-bashing in the Russian Parliament on Monday, a series of lawmakers took the podium to catalog rights violations perpetrated by Americans over the years, including waterboarding, Ku Klux Klan lynchings and the abuse of children adopted from Russia.

Monday’s parliamentary hearing, titled “On Problems in the Observation of Human Rights by the United States of America,” was the first of its kind since the breakup of the Soviet Union, and comes as Russia’s leaders employ progressively colder statements toward the United States.

The shift in tone is equal and opposite to one that took place in 2009, when President Obama was making overtures to Russia and perceptions of the United States began to warm up. These days, hawkish commentators are back on the air, accusing Washington of supporting political forces opposed to President Vladimir V. Putin. Monday’s hearings were reminiscent of Soviet days, when the Young Communist League organized rallies in support of Angela Davis, the radical activist.

“Since 1987, we really had major movement forward, and these propagandistic cold war stereotypes very quickly collapsed,” said Sergei M. Rogov, director of the Institute for the U.S. and Canadian Studies. “Now sometimes I have the perception that like Rip van Winkle, I am waking up and it is Reagan and Andropov.”

By cataloging grave issues like the death penalty and detentions at Guantánamo Bay, the speakers on Monday seemed focused on challenging the moral authority of the West to criticize Russia’s human rights record. Western criticism has intensified lately: the European Parliament is scheduled to debate a proposal to establish visa restrictions for Russian officials involved in the death of Sergei L. Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in pretrial custody in 2009 after he tried to investigate official corruption. A similar measure is under consideration in the United States Congress.

Aleksei K. Pushkov, the head of the State Duma’s foreign affairs committee, said debates about human rights have become “a constant feature” of Russia’s relations with the West since the fall of Communism, and that Russia would no longer listen passively. He said Russia had “spoiled the Americans” by remaining silent on their human rights violations for 20 years.

“Yeltsin wanted to make Clinton laugh, and he laughed at all of us,” Mr. Pushkov said of the relationship between Presidents Bill Clinton and Boris N. Yeltsin. “We wanted to win their trust and approval, and they became used to this, so today, when we speak of flagrant violations of human rights in the U.S.A., they are experiencing shock — that we dare to do this. But we are one of the leading countries of the world, and we have the right to do this.”

The most disturbing presentation came from Pavel Astakhov, Russia’s ombudsman for children’s rights, who described in detail abuse of Russian children adopted by American families. Cases of death are not common — Mr. Astakhov counted 19 since adoptions by Americans began — but the descriptions are agonizing. Mr. Astakhov said abusive parents have been given mild punishments because American courts view Russian children as inferior.

“The basis of the jury’s verdict was an interesting one,” he said sardonically, referring to a verdict in the case of a parent whose adopted 7-year-old died of brain trauma. “The boy was born in Russia, the boy was an orphan who was brought up in an orphanage, he has bad genetics, because in fact all Russian orphans are genetically underdeveloped, have an inclination to drug addiction, stealing, self-harm. It turns out the boy beat himself to death on an iron stove.”

Among the speakers was the nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who said that “anti-Russian propaganda” in the United States had its roots in Jewish emigration.

“There are 10 million of them there who came from the Soviet Union and new Russia, and they are all prejudiced against our country,” he said. “All of them influence public opinion, the lawyers, the newspapers, and that is where the intensity of the anti-Russian mood comes from.” He was one of several speakers to note that the United States ambassador to Moscow, Michael A. McFaul, had not accepted an invitation to attend.

“It would be unpleasant for him to hear two hours of criticism of his country,” Mr. Zhirinovsky. “But his diplomats are recording it, they will let him know, and today his lunch will be spoiled.”

As lawmakers filed out of the hearing, some marveled at the shift in the political atmosphere. Vyacheslav N. Tetyotkin, a deputy from the Communist Party, said such a hearing would have been “unthinkable” two years ago, when United Russia, the governing party, sought to prevent legislators from other parties from making statements unfriendly toward the United States.

“And suddenly, this same ruling party holds a parliamentary hearing on the violation of human rights in the United States,” he said. Mr. Tetyotkin said that “what changed was the mood within the Russian elite,” who now realized that their American counterparts would not treat Russia as an equal partner, but “as if it were Gambia or something.”

“As well-informed people will tell you, Mr. Medvedev had a slightly different political orientation, much closer to the United States,” he said, referring to the Mr. Putin’s protégé, Dmitri A. Medvedev, who left the presidency in May to allow Mr. Putin to serve a third term.

“Mr. Putin positions himself, though I do not like this term much, as a Russian nationalist.”

The audience at Monday’s hearing consisted largely of invited students, and some emerged upset by the catalog of abuses they had heard. Already, opinions in Russia have been changing since last fall. A poll released in September by the Levada Center, a Moscow-based polling agency, showed positive feelings toward the United States had fallen from 67 percent a year ago to 46 percent today. The hearing left some more convinced.

“The way they humiliated those children, it is horrible,” said Emilia Galimova, 21, a law student. “They tell us that they are the parents of democracy, and that we should learn from them, but they are not paying attention to what is going on in their own country.”