“[Liberals] cannot simply dictate anything to anyone just like they have been attempting to do over the recent decades,” he said. “I strongly disagree with the main argument that liberalism is obsolete. Whoever claims that liberal democracy is obsolete, also claims that freedoms are obsolete, that the rule of law is obsolete and that human rights are obsolete,” he said. Human rights groups say the law, which Putin approved in 2013, has sparked a spike in homophobic violence. A UN panel ruled last year that the law was in violation of a legally binding international treaty on human rights.

Source: The Guardian June 27, 2019 22:11 UTC