MOSCOW, April 24 (RAPSI) - Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have published reports critical of a number of Russian laws on Wednesday, and urged the EU to develop a unified position in regards to Russia's observance of human rights.

The authors of Human Rights Watch's 78-page report, "Laws of Attrition: Crackdown on Russia's Civil Society after Putin's Return to the Presidency," and Amnesty International's 85-page report, "Freedom Under Threat: The Clampdown on Freedom of Expression, Assembly and Association in Russia," claim that the tendency to violate freedom of speech and the freedom of assembly has escalated in Russia since May 2012.

According to Amnesty International, a number of laws were adopted in Russia last year that restrict civil rights, and a campaign has been launched to raid NGOs.

"We believe that the three laws - the law on NGOs, the Dima Yakovlev Law, and amendments to the Criminal Code's article on treason against the homeland, are an attempt to restrict or to exterminate the independent activities of human rights organizations," Rachel Denber, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia Division, told a news conference on Wednesday while presenting the report in Moscow.

Human Rights Watch has called on the European Council to task its advisory body, the Venice Commission, with holding an assessment of the amendments introduced to the law on NGOs, as well as an assessment of the law on controlling Internet content and the Criminal Code provision that stipulates liability for libel to determine if they correspond with the European Convention on Human Rights.