US politicises religious freedom to interfere in affairs of 'unwanted' nations: Russia

The United States has continued to politicise freedom of conscience and religion by labelling unwanted countries in a bid to interfere in their internal affairs, said Russia’s embassy in Washington while responding to the annual report of the US State Department on religious freedoms across the globe. According to Russian news agency TASS, the diplomats had stated that Washington “unceremoniously label unwelcome countries” to get the pretext for interfering in internal affairs. 

"Washington continues to politicise freedom of conscience and religion. They unceremoniously label unwelcome countries in order to get a pretext for interfering in their internal affairs," the Russian diplomats stressed, according to the report.

"We would like to remind that Russia was originally formed as a multinational and multi-confessional state," the embassy noted. "Protecting the rights of believers is our absolute priority. We have no religious persecution. At the same time, we are not trying to influence the religious spheres of other states under far-fetched pretexts," the diplomats added. The Russian embassy in the US believes that Washington is pursuing its geopolitical objectives, and “provoked interfaith tensions in the countries of the Middle East, North Africa, and the former Yugoslavia", which always led to conflicts and numerous casualties. 

India hits back at US over Blinken's 'ill-informed' remarks

Russian embassy’s remarks came as India also hit back at the US after Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke about “rising attacks on people and places of worship”. New Delhi, in its response, accused Washington of indulging in “votebank politics” in international relations. India also said that it had regularly raised the “concern” over “racially and ethnically motivated attacks, hate crimes and gun violence” in the US.

India gave a blistering reply to the US after Blinken on June 2 said, “in India, the world’s largest democracy and home to a great diversity of faiths, we have seen rising attacks on people and places of worship”, while speaking at an event organised for releasing the state department’s annual report on international religious freedom (IRF).

Since it was the first time in recent history that US State Department mentioned India in the oral introductory remarks delivered at such an event, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi issued a strong-worded statement and said that New Delhi had noted the “ill-informed comments by senior US officials”. He termed it a direct attack.

“It is unfortunate that vote bank politics is being practised in international relations. We would urge that assessments based on motivated inputs and biased views be avoided,” Bagchi said. He also claimed that as a “naturally pluralistic society, India values religious freedom and human rights.”

Image: AP