Russia condemns US over 'inquisitorial torture'

Russia is shocked by revelations about CIA torture in the wake of the September 11 attacks and believes those responsible for abusing detainees should be brought to justice, a senior foreign ministry official said on Thursday.

The ministry's human rights commissioner, Konstantin Dolgov, said this week's US Senate report revealed "gross systemic rights violations" and jarred with US aspirations to be regarded as a model of democracy.

The report found that the CIA misled the White House and public about its torture of detainees at secret prisons around the world after 9/11, and acted more brutally and pervasively than it had acknowledged.

"Despite the fact that this inquisitorial torture was used by CIA agents outside US territory, this does not remove their responsibility for these deliberate actions," Dolgov said.

"We urge the human rights community, the appropriate international organisations and institutions to pressure Washington to disclose the information on rights violations in full and hold the guilty responsible."

Moscow and Washington often spar about each other's human rights records, with Russia saying that the United States turns a blind eye to its own abuses while lecturing the rest of the world. The Ukraine crisis has brought relations between the two countries to their lowest point since the Cold War.

Countries like Iran, North Korea and China, all frequent targets of human rights criticism from Washington, have all used this week's report as an opportunity to turn the tables on the United States.