Russia is ready to discuss human rights with other countries, but will solve existing problems on its own, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday.
"Indeed, we always discuss these questions and I told the [Danish] prime minister that we are open for discussions on this issue with representatives of the state, as well as representatives of the civil society and non-governmental organizations," Medvedev said in Copenhagen at a news conference on the results of talks with Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen.
"At the same time, these are our problems and we will deal with them independently, on our own. We don't need any external support on the issue. We have to deal with this on our own," he said.
The Danish prime minister expressed his concern over the murders of journalists in Russia, which has one of the poorest journalist safety records in the world.
"I noticed that progress was made in that direction. But I also said that Danes are concerned over the murders of journalists which have taken place in Russia. I expressed my wish that these cases be investigated and those guilty brought to justice," Rasmussen said.
The Russian president said that all grave crimes must be properly investigated, not only those committed against journalists or on any other professional basis.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a total of 68 journalists were killed worldwide in 2009, the highest annual toll ever recorded. Russia, where three journalists were killed in 2009, has the fifth highest toll, after Somalia (nine deaths), Iraq (four) and Pakistan (four).
Chechen rights activist Natalya Estemirova, who had been investigating kidnappings and disappearances in Chechnya for the Russian human rights group Memorial, was abducted and murdered on July 15 last year in the south Russian republic. She was included in the list of journalists due to her articles for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper.
Novaya Gazeta reporter Anastasia Baburova was shot dead on January 19, 2009, in downtown Moscow, together with lawyer Stanislav Markelov, who was acting on behalf of a family whose daughter was murdered by a Russian officer in Chechnya. Markelov died at the scene and Baburova lost her struggle for life shortly afterwards in hospital.
Telman Alishayev, an anchor in a popular religious TV program Peace to Your Home, died in September 2008 after he was shot by gunmen in the south Russian republic of Dagestan. He was not included in the 2008 list of murdered journalists as the circumstances of his death were not then clear.
COPENHAGEN, April 28 (RIA Novosti)
