KYIV. Nov 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Russia and Syria have taken a position of promoting propaganda on the issue of making recommendations to Ukraine on human rights as part of the Periodic Review of the United Nations Council for Human Rights (UNCHR), Deputy Ukrainian Justice Minister in charge of European integration Serhiy Petukhov has said.

"Unfortunately, sometimes states use this mechanism not for assisting in human rights protection in Ukraine, but for political purposes. This is what we have run across with the rather propagandistic declaration of Russia. Syria has not joined in," Petukhov said during a press conference hosted by the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

"For example, Syria was very concerned about the rights of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Russia did not have time to worry about this issue … But Syria did. Venezuela joined in," he added.

According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's press release provided at the press conference, recommendations are given to delegations of 70 UN member states participating in the UNCHR's interactive dialogue in Geneva on November 15. Each UN member state is involved in the Periodic Review of Human Rights procedure, which takes place once every four and a half years.