By Matt Spetalnick and Simon Lewis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. sharpened its criticism of Russia's record on human trafficking on Thursday, citing Moscow’s treatment of conscripts and Ukrainian children, in an annual report on countries that Washington says are failing to protect victims.
The State Department’s 2023 Trafficking in Persons report kept Russia on a list of "state sponsors" of human trafficking and ranked Russia among the world's worst at addressing the problem. Relations between Moscow and Washington are at a breaking point over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
A section on Russia included more criticism than last year of Moscow's detention of people in Ukraine. The report also cited the “forcible transfer of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia” - which is the subject of an International Criminal Court prosecution against Russian officials including President Vladimir Putin.
“There was a government policy or pattern of trafficking of Ukrainian citizens and North Korean workers,” it added.
“There were also reports of Russian officials forcing, deceiving, or coercing foreign national adults to fight in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
This year’s report credited Russia for facilitating the return of Russian children from Syria, some of whom may have been trafficking victims, but it cited fewer positives than the report last year.
Russia's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report put Russia in Tier 3, which groups the worst offenders in human trafficking, where it was last year. The State Department downgraded Algeria, Chad, Djibouti and Equatorial Guinea to Tier 3.
Malaysia and Vietnam were both upgraded from Tier 3 because while they “did not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking” they had made “significant efforts to do so,” the report said.