MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax) - The U.S will continue supporting civil society in Russia and speak out when human rights are violated, said U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul.
"With respect to the issues of democracy and human rights we will continue to be the same, which is to say we do support the development of Russian civil society. We made that clear from the very beginning of the reset. We will remain committed to that," he said in an interview with Interfax..
"We will continue to speak out when we see violations of human rights and we want to keep to that course. We call it dual-track diplomacy: engage with the government, engage with society," he said..
"And again we have to wait for the new administration. My expectation is that we will have continuity with that dual-track approach," McFaul said.
On Russian officials' comments on the U.S. presidential elections, he said, "I read what Mr. Churov said, I read what the Duma said, I read what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. And you know we welcome those kind of interactions. We don't run away from them. We are very proud of our democratic traditions and our practices," he said.
"We had a superbly democratic, free and fair and competitive election. And the fact that Mr. Romney agrees with me I think is a testimony to the process. But we are happy to engage in talking on internal matters in America," he said.
The U.S. ambassador again expressed regret about the curtailment of USAID's activities in Russia
"We believe it was a step in the wrong direction to ask USAID to leave here. We are very proud of the work USAID has done here over the course of 20 years, working both with the Russian government and Russian society. Something that I think is not well understood," he said.
"But we haven't changed our policy, there'll be new ways to commit to the same objectives," he added.
"With respect to civil society, as you know there are lots of organizations, lots of foundations, European, American, Canadian, all over the world that support civil society in Russia, support civil society in my country, by the way, too, in other countries. We will look two ways to continue that support," the U.S. ambassador said.