Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.(Reuters / Ricardo Rojas)

 Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa came up with scalding online remarks over criticism his country faced from the US press for potentially granting asylum to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. “They’ve managed to focus attention on Snowden and on the ‘wicked’ countries that ‘support’ him, making us forget the terrible things against the US people and the whole world that he denounced,” Correa said Wednesday in response to a Tuesday Washington Post editorial. “The world order isn’t only unjust, it’s immoral,” Correa added. The US newspaper accused Correa of adhering to double standards in the NSA leaker case, as Ecuador is considering harboring Snowden from prosecution over US espionage charges. It descried the Ecuadoran president as “the autocratic leader of a tiny, impoverished” country with an ambition to replace the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez as “the hemisphere’s preeminent anti-US demagogue”. The Washington Post lashed out at a legislation recently adopted by Ecuador, saying that it diminishes freedom of press. It also said Ecuador is profiting from duty-free trade with the US while criticizing Washington’s policies. Earlier this week US Secretary of State John Kerry chose rhetoric similar to that of the Washington Post as he admonished China and Russia for failing to apprehend Snowden and extradite him for trial in America. "I wonder if Snowden chose Russia or China for assistance because they are such bastions of internet freedom," he said sarcastically.

Cost of non-compliance

Bunches of roses from Ecuador are stacked for delivery at Liberty Wholesale in the flower market.(Reuters / Lucy Nicholson)

Russian Foreign Ministry (RIA Novosti / Alexander Vilf)

Russia’s Foreign Ministry says the latest US State Department report on human trafficking used “unacceptable” methods as its rating depended too much on political sympathies towards the US administration. In its Annual Trafficking in Persons Report released on Wednesday, the State Department downgraded Russia to category three, the worst countries dealing with human trafficking. The authors of the paper admitted in press comments that the downgrade did not mean a deterioration in the situation, but rather the slow reaction of the authorities to the problems they must be aware of.

Other nations that received a downgrade for similar reasons were China and Uzbekistan.

The countries in the third group can be subject to US sanctions, both in bilateral programs and in the projects of international organizations with US participation, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Russian reaction on Thursday was harsh and uncompromising. “Unfortunately, instead of a deep and objective study into the growing scale of human trafficking, including in the United States itself, the authors of the report again used the unacceptable ideological approach that divides nations into rating groups depending on the US State Department’s political sympathies or antipathies,” Konstantin Dolgov, the Foreign Ministry’s plenipotentiary for Human Rights said in an official statement. He said that under such conditions the downgrade was not surprising as it was matching the logic of the recently passed Magnitsky Act and other “democratizing tools” that the US attempt to use against Russia in connection with the alleged deterioration of the human rights situation. Dolgov said that the politicizing of human trafficking and especially the ranking based on political preferences were actually hampering international cooperation in the fight against this evil. The diplomat added that the particular examples of such successful cooperation can be found in the report itself, albeit they were only mentioned very briefly. The Foreign Ministry representative explained that the US had repeatedly warned Russia about the forthcoming downgrade, but the moves that had been suggested to prevent it were impossible to execute and this was done deliberately. “To get a good mark from the United States we had to work under a specially developed list of recommendations that ordered us to change our laws concerning human trafficking and the practice of their application so that they match US templates,” the diplomat said. “It is obvious that these demands were impossible to meet from the very beginning. In their fight against organized crime the Russian authorities would never follow the instructions developed by another country and Russia would never fulfill the demands that look almost like an ultimatum,” he added. At the same time, the official said Moscow had repeatedly offered to continue cooperation with the United States in the fight against human trafficking and to maintain contacts both in bilateral mode and in various international organizations.

Dolgov also noted that even the discussion of possible unilateral sanctions against Russia could only cause indignation as such steps would contradict the goals of positive development of the Russian-US relations. “Of course, the unfriendly moves will be followed by an adequate reaction from our side,” the Russian diplomat promised.

Centrifuges at Iran's Nantanz nuclear site.(AFP Photo / Press TV)

  Iran has confirmed it is prepared to halt its enrichment of 20-percent uranium, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, urging Western nations to end their sanctions against Tehran.

 “For the first time in many years, there are encouraging signs in the process of settlement of the situation with the Iranian nuclear program,” he said in the interview to Kuwait’s KUNA news agency, that was published on  Russian Foreign Ministry’s website. “Without going into details, the Iranians confirm the most important [point]: Their readiness to stop 20 percent uranium enrichment at its current levels,” Lavrov said.“This could become a breakthrough agreement, significantly alleviating existing problems, including concerns about the possibility of advanced uranium enrichment to a weapons-grade level.” Such a move “implies significant reciprocal steps by the Six,” the minister added, referring to the group of world powers seeking to peacefully resolve the issue of Iran’s nuclear program. “The international community must adequately respond to the constructive progress made by Iran, including gradual suspension and lifting of sanctions, both unilateral and those introduced by the UN Security Council. It would be a shame not to take advantage of this opportunity,” Lavrov concluded. News of Iran’s possible concessions over its nuclear program comports with promises made by Iranian President-elect Hassan Rowhani, who vowed to make the program more transparent. Still, the moderate cleric stressed on Monday that Tehran would not consider halting the country’s uranium enrichment activities entirely. Rowhani insisted that Iran’s nuclear activities are “within the framework of law,” and dubbed the international sanctions “baseless.” Despite numerous accusations by Israel and the US that it is secretly conducting military nuclear research, Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is only for civilian purposes. At his first media conference since winning the presidential elections, Rowhani – who previously headed Iran’s delegation during  nuclear talks with the six world powers – said that Tehran’s nuclear activities “are already transparent,” but “the only way to end the sanctions is to increase the transparency and trust” between Iran and the international community. Washington has been expecting changes in Iran’s hardline stance on the nuclear issue following the country’s presidential elections. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said Sunday on ‘Face the Nation’ that Washington is ready to work with the new administration in Tehran, "If he lives up to his obligations under the UN Security Council resolution to come clean on this illicit nuclear program.” But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained unconvinced: "The international community must not become caught up in wishes and be tempted to relax the pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear program,” he said. President-elect Rowhani will assume office in August. He believes that he can heal the “old wound” of troubled US-Iran relations if Washington stops interfering in Tehran’s internal affairs and permanently ends its “bullying” practices towards Iran.