Wrapping up a weeklong visit, a U.S. government advisory group described the state of religious liberty in Russia as "fragile" and said some of its findings might be qualified later as violations.
However, Felice Gaer, head of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said at a news conference Friday that she would refrain from making any conclusive statements until the commission publishes its annual report in May.
"Russia attracted the interest of the commission from the very start," she said, referring to the commission's founding in 1998 under the International Religious Freedom Act.
"Not because it requires a special concern, like Sudan – it was not the severity of the problem but the fragility of religious freedom and all freedoms in Russia," she said
"The Moscow Times", Jan. 27, 2003 [âñÿ ñòàòüÿ]
