US human rights abuses are veiled by an information vacuum, said Alexei Pushkov, head of the Russian lower house of parliament's international committee.
“The United States violates human rights beyond its borders, in various operations in other states,” Pushkov said on Monday, speaking at a special session on US human rights.
Pushkov said that “an information vacuum” is created around these violations, giving a distorted picture of the country as "virtually the sole moral authority."
Referring to the criticism Russia receives over the lack of press freedom, Pushkov noted that the Reporters Without Borders 2012 survey lowered the US rating by 27 places from the previous year.
This, the report says, was due to journalists being arrested while covering the Occupy Wall Street protests. The report also lowered Russia's rating – describing the overall situation regarding media freedom in the country as "gloomy."
