The U.S. senators' statement condemning the jailing of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov is "inappropriate" and may jeopardize the much-heralded "reset" in bilateral relations, a senior Russian senator said on Thursday.
Nemtsov was arrested after an officially sanctioned opposition rally in Moscow on New Year's Eve and sentenced to 15 days in jail for "disobeying police orders."
"We are deeply disappointed by the arrest of former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov and other members of the opposition, and by the unjust prison sentences they have received," John McCain and Joe Lieberman said in a statement issued on Thursday.
Nemtsov and others "peacefully sought to exercise their basic constitutional right to freedom of assembly," they said.
"The treatment of Mr. Nemtsov and other members of the opposition should provide a stark warning to the rest of the world about the disregard for rule of law that has come to characterize contemporary Russia," the statement read.
Mikhail Margelov, the head of the Federation Council's [upper house of the Russian parliament] foreign relations committee, said the senators' statement was "awkward and inappropriate."
"The hard-won yet successful ratification of the new START treaty in the U.S. Senate is not only a testimony to the success of the [U.S. President Barack] Obama administration in delivering their promises to the international community and to his Russian partners, but it is also a hope for further improvement in the reset of Russian-U.S. ties." Margelov said.
"Our response to this ratification has been a successful continuation of the ratification process in the Federal Council... which makes McCain's and Lieberman's statement look all the more awkward and inappropriate," he said.
"When Barack Obama became president, he promised not to repeat the mistakes of his predecessor: not to intrude in other countries' domestic affairs and not to use force to impose democracy around the world," Margelov said.
He said Russia had never gloated about America's failures.
"We always behave like partners and want to be treated likewise," the senator said.
Sergei Katyrin, Vice President of Russia's Trade and Commerce Chamber, said McCain and Lieberman had better "not poke their noses in somebody else's business."
Protesters have been rallying outside a jailhouse where Nemtsov is being held for four days.
U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley earlier this week expressed "regret and surprise" over Nemtsov's jailing.
Police said he was arrested after attempting to cross from a sanctioned protest to an unsanctioned one also being held in Moscow's Triumfalnaya Square.
Nemtsov said his incarceration is an attempt by the Kremlin to frighten the opposition and his family.
The March of Dissent rallies take place in Moscow and St. Petersburg on the last day of every month with 31 days, in honor of Article 31 of the Russian Constitution, which guarantees the right to free assembly.
MOSCOW, January 6 (RIA Novosti)
