Russian Human Rights Activists Should Not Conform to Western Colleagues – Russian Ombudsman

MOSCOW, June 11 (RIA Novosti) – Russian human rights activists should boost partnership with their Western colleagues, hold constructive conversations with them, but not pander or conform to them, Russia’s Human Rights Ombudsman Ella Pamfilova believes.

“We should preserve our partnership with oversees colleagues, but our work should be based on the interests and needs of our citizens; we should not be working for export. This is what I’m keying our human rights activists into,” Pamfilova said Wednesday at the State Duma session, answering a question on foreign NGOs in Russia and cooperation with Western human rights activists.

“We should have substantive and constructive dialogue with our partners in Western and Eastern Europe, but we should not pander or conform to them. We share values, we signed international documents, but there are certain nuances based on tradition and history that should be taken into account,” Pamfilova said.

According to Pamfilova, respect can only be gained only through concrete results achieved while working with particular people on individual issues.