USA adds Russia to list of countries that do not respect religious freedom

The United States announced on Wednesday that it has included Russia in its Blacklist of countries “particularly worrying” in terms of religious freedom.

opposite of this, Nigeria, which was included in this list last year, was withdrawn, That’s expected this week in that African country, according to a statement by US diplomacy chief Antony Blinken.

Other Countries Involved by “committed or tolerated open, systematic and persistent violations of religious freedom” Similar in 2020 are: Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, China, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Cuba, Nicaragua, Algeria and the Comoros are on the intermediate list of states “under surveillance”.

“The United States will not deviate from its commitment to protecting freedom of religion and belief. For everyone and in every country,” Blinken said.

“In many places in the world, We see governments harassing, detaining, threatening, imprisoning and killing For people only because of their desire to live according to their beliefs”.

This latest annual report from US diplomacy on religious freedom in Russia It highlighted the “misuse of the law against extremism to restrict the peaceful activities of religious minorities”.

Those groups classified by Russia as extremists and therefore prohibited include The Christian group Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Muslim Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Tensions between Russia and the United States have escalated recently. Despite optimistic statements from President Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin at the June summit.

The topics of conflict are diverse And they range from Russian military activities near Ukraine, Putin’s absence at the COP26 climate conference, or frequent cyber attacks.

For his part, the United States Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, repeatedly warned of “problematic behavior” by Russia this Wednesday, Referring to the recent anti-satellite missile test and the concentration of troops along the border with Ukraine, for which he called on Vladimir Putin’s government to be “more responsible and transparent”.

Austin acknowledged this at a press conference at the Pentagon ahead of his visit to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. “We continue to see problematic behavior from Russia. This causes us deep concern”US official said.

In particular, he cited Concentration of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine and its recent antisatellite test, activities that it outlined, “They are not in favor of the security environment.”

“The truth is we don’t know what President (Vladimir) Putin is looking for,” he said. Therefore, the head of the Pentagon asked Moscow to “be more Responsible And transparent“In their military activities.

The US State Department, NATO and the US space agency NASA have described Russian anti-satellite testing as “reckless”, “dangerous” and “irresponsible”, by ensuring that it “puts at risk” the International Space Station (ISS) crew from the generated space debris.

(with information from AFP)

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