The Media Ministry on 1 April denounced an annual report by the U.S. State Department that criticizes Russia for its human rights record and, particularly. \"The Media Ministry sarcastically receives efforts by the U.S. foreign-policy agency to present Russia as a country without a free press,\" the ministry\'s press release said. \"The statements of American officials claiming that there are limitations of the rights and freedom of [Russian] citizens to access information have a particular piquantness against the background of the ongoing military operation of American forces in Iraq. Concerning the behavior of U.S. spokespeople in explaining the military conflict, we have all been witnesses to the biased distribution of information and to violations of the rights of journalists leading to the delusion of the American people.\" (RIA-Novosti)