A piece by Atlantic Council experts Emma Ashford and Professor Matthew Burrows stated that Washington should not focus on the human rights issue in its relations with Moscow
More than two dozen employees and academics at the Atlantic Council, one of the largest US think tanks, including former ambassadors, criticised their colleagues over an article they published, describing it as pro-Russian. This was reported on Thursday by Politico newspaper.
The source of the scandal was an article by Center experts Emma Ashford and Professor Matthew Burrows which stated that Washington should not focus on the issue of human rights in its relations with Moscow. In their view, “democratization in Russia is not necessarily good for U.S. foreign policy interests.”
The Atlantic Council’s website then published a joint statement by 22 of its staff members who were sharply critical of their colleagues. Among them were former US ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, former US ambassador to Moscow and NATO deputy secretary general Alexander Vershbow, and veteran diplomatic service former State Department sanctions policy coordinator Daniel Freed. They regard Ashford and Burrows’ article as “pro-Russian”.
“Their article is based on the false notion that human rights and national interests are completely unrelated and that US policy toward Russia has been and remains largely human rights-focused”, – said a statement from the Free Speech Movement staff of the Atlantic Council. – “Indeed, previous and current administrations have sought to integrate our values and other national interests. We, the undersigned, disagree with the arguments and values in the article and distance ourselves from it”, – the statement claims.