On March 6, 2007 the U.S. Department of State (the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor) released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in 2006.

The report on Russia covers different aspects of this problem, including the situation of national, racial and ethnic minorities (see Section 5), and the freedom of speech in connection with the new version of the law "On Countering Extremism" (see Section 2.a).

As stated in the introduction,

There were also reports of societal discrimination, harassment, and violence against members of some religious minorities and incidents of anti-Semitism. Authorities restricted freedom of movement and exhibited negative attitudes toward, and sometimes harassed, NGOs involved in human rights monitoring. Also notable was the passage and entry into force of a new law on NGOs, which has already had some adverse effects on their operations. There was widespread governmental and societal discrimination as well as racially motivated attacks against ethnic minorities and dark-skinned immigrants, including the outbreak of violence against Chechens in the northwest and the initiation of a government campaign to selectively harass and deport ethnic Georgians. Xenophobic, racial and ethnic attacks, and hate crimes were on the rise.

Read the full text of the report on Russia.