Russia Slams US Interference in its Internal Affairs

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

US intelligence operatives, "diplomatic" personnel, and military officials unlawfully interfere in the internal affairs of nations globally — a flagrant international law breach.

UN Charter Article 2 (4) states: "All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations."

Charter Article 2 (7) states: "Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to (diplomatic) settlement under the present Charter…"

In 1965, the UN General Assembly Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of Their Independence and Sovereignty (Res. 2131) was unanimously adopted with one abstention.

Its preamble/opening paragraph emphasized the "gravity of the international situation and the increasing threat to universal peace due to armed intervention and other direct or indirect forms of interference threatening the sovereign personality and the political independence of States."

The universally accept principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of states prohibits meddling by one state against others.

In Nicaragua v. United States (1986), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) referred to illegal US "coercion, which defines, and indeed forms the very essence of, prohibited intervention."

In 1933, the Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States, binding international law, prohibited "interference with the freedom, the sovereignty or other internal affairs, or the processes of the Governments of other nations" — what US regimes do time and again against numerous countries worldwide.

Humanitarian intervention and responsibility to protect are pretexts for US aggression and other unlawful meddling in the affairs of other nations.

US dirty hands are involved in orchestrating and manipulating disruptive protests in Hong Kong, Iran, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Russia, and elsewhere — destabilizing nations on the US target list for regime change.

On Saturday, Moscow police said "(a)bout 20,000 people…attend(ed) (an) event on Academician Sakharov Avenue."

Russia's Interior Ministry called the rally authorized. Sputnik News reported that police learned that provocations were planned by opposition elements barred from running for city council positions because of alleged signature-collection fraud.

RT said police were out in force but largely "maintain(ed) a hands-off approach," while acting against disruptive tactics by some elements involved.

Lawbreakers were arrested detained for "unauthorized protest walks through central streets," chanting anti-government slogans, said RT. Its Ruptly TV covered the event live.

Hundreds of disruptive protesters were arrested earlier, most fined and freed. Others accused of provoking mass unrest remain detained.

In mid-July, around 3,500 anti-government elements were involved in an unauthorized Moscow rally. Violence erupted when provocateurs tried and failed to break through police lines near Mayor Sergei Sobyanin's office.

These type incidents have US dirty hands all over them. On Friday, US embassy official in Moscow Tim Richardson was summoned to Russia's Foreign Ministry for Trump regime meddling in the country's internal affairs.

The State Department published an August 3 unauthorized Moscow protest route on its website — "an act encouraging participation and a call to action, which constitutes an attempt to interfere in Russia's domestic affairs," its ministry said.

Russophobic US media published disinformation about Saturday's protest. The NYT inflated the turnout to 50,000, two-and-a-half-fold the reported number.

"After the approved part of the rally wrapped up, some demonstrators continued marching toward a government building," the Times reported — failing to explain disruptive actions of elements involved, or that US dirty hands were likely involved.

The Times cited unidentified protesters, falsely claiming "that President Vladimir V. Putin's government was simply intent on nipping any opposition in the bud, even at a local level, and that the signatures were genuine."

The self-styled newspaper of record lied, claiming "riot police officers with nightsticks beat hundreds of protesters and arrested more than 2,500 people," adding "dozens of opposition leaders are now in jail."

According to RT, "(a)t least 136" arrests were made "for various violations." Elements jailed were and remain lawbreakers.

Imagine if Russian, Chinese, Iranian, Venezuelan, or North Korean officials encouraged disruptive/violent protests in US cities.

Perhaps hardliners in Washington would claim justification to launch WW III.

VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html