REUTERS
The organization focuses on the fact that the Kremlin is being accused of ordering assassinations on foreign soil, has imprisoned political opponents, invaded Georgia and Ukraine, supports dictators in a number of countries and nationalist parties across Europe.
Following a recent "Putin’s fine" assessment of the Russian president by Donald Trump ahead of their meeting on July 16, Freedom House compiled a small sampling of reasons to think otherwise.
"Putin dispatched Russian special forces to Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in February 2014, after protesters in Kyiv forced the downfall of corrupt Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, a Kremlin client. After seizing control of the region by force, occupation authorities rigged a referendum to facilitate formal annexation by Russia, which the international community has refused to recognize," the report by Freedom House reads.
On Thursday, Trump told a press conference in Brussels Russian President Vladimir Putin is not an “enemy” but rather a “competitor,” according to Time.
“Somebody was saying, ‘Is he an enemy?’ He’s not my enemy. Is he a friend? No, I don’t know him well enough. But the couple of times that I’ve gotten to meet him, we got along very well … but ultimately, he’s a competitor. He’s representing Russia. I’m representing the United States. It’s not a question of friend or enemy.”