Russia accuses U.S. of using “double standards”

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States and two dozen other nations called for the adoption of a declaration of freedoms in cyberspace at a European security conference in Vilnius on Tuesday, but the proposal stalled in the face of opposition from Russia and countries that view the Internet as a threat to their political systems.

The draft declaration, circulated at the annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, came only two days after parliamentary elections in Russia that included a crackdown on dissent before and after the vote, with computer attacks reported on Web sites of election observers and the news media.

Despite the support of more than half of the organization’s 56 member nations, including Canada and most of Europe, the proposal has no chance of being adopted because the organization acts only by consensus, allowing countries to wield a veto. Still, in the wake of the Russian elections in particular, it became a proxy for a broader debate within the organization over basic freedoms.

“We must recognize that rights exercised in cyberspace deserve as much protection as those exercised in real space,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in remarks to officials from the organization’s member states, which also include Russia.

“Fundamental freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, association and religion apply as much to a Twitter conversation and a gathering organized by N.G.O.’s on Facebook as they do to a demonstration in a public square,” she added, referring to nongovernmental organizations.

For a second day, Mrs. Clinton sharply criticized Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Russia, underscoring a new souring in relations already strained by disputes over missile defenses, conventional forces in Europe, Russia’s support for Syria and Iran and other issues.

The organization’s election observer mission in Russia reported widespread electoral abuses, including pressure on some parties and local observers and outright ballot stuffing. While the organization did not pass judgment on the credibility of the vote, Mrs. Clinton did, saying it was “neither free nor fair.”

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, did not directly address the elections in his own remarks but generally accused the organization of imposing “double standards” by focusing on rights in some countries and losing sight of its core mission of promoting security.

“The established machinery of the O.S.C.E. is getting rusty,” he said, The New York Times reported.