The United States announced Wednesday that it has added Russia to its deals Blacklist of countries of “particular concern” in terms of religious freedom.

Conversely Nigeria, which was on this list last year, has been withdrawn. And according to a statement issued by the head of US diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, who is expected this week in that African country.

Other countries listed by Perpetrators of or condoning flagrant, systematic and persistent violations of religious freedom The same as in 2020: Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, China, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Cuba, Nicaragua, Algeria and Comoros are included in the intermediate list of “observer” countries.

The United States will not deviate from its commitment to defend freedom of religion and belief. Blinken said.

In many places in the world, We continue to see governments harassing, detaining, threatening, imprisoning, and killing people simply for their desire to live according to their beliefs.”

This is the latest annual report of US diplomacy on religious freedom in Russia It highlighted the “misuse of the Anti-Extremism Law to restrict the peaceful activities of religious minorities.”

It is among those groups that Russia classifies as extremist and therefore banned Christian congregation Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Muslim Liberation Party.

Tensions have been rising between Russia and the United States recently Despite the optimistic statements of Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin at the June summit.

The topics of confrontation are varied They range from Russian military activities near Ukraine, Putin’s absence from the COP26 climate conference or ongoing cyber attacks.

On his part, the US Defense Secretary said, Lloyd AustinOn Wednesday, he warned against repeated “problematic behavior” by Russia, Quoting from the recent anti-satellite missile test The stationing of troops on the border with Ukraine, which required the government of Vladimir Putin to be “more responsible and transparent.”

This is what Austin acknowledged at a press conference at the Pentagon, before traveling to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. We continue to see problematic behavior from Russia. It causes us deep concern.”The US official said.

Specifically, he was martyred Russian soldiers stationed near the border with Ukraine And the recent anti-satellite experiment, which I confirmed, “They don’t prefer the security environment.”

“The truth is that we don’t know exactly what President (Vladimir) Putin is looking for,” he added. So the Pentagon chief asked Moscow “to be more responsible And transparentin their military activities.

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

(With information from AFP)

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