Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso traded barbs over human rights on Friday following a day of high-level talks in Moscow.

Addressing a joint news conference with a prepared speech, Barroso mentioned that he had raised the issue of rule of law in Russia during a meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev.

A visibly irritated Putin replied that Barroso had no right to mention his conversation with Medvedev because Medvedev was not present to respond.

Putin then said Europe should not talk down to Russia and accused the EU of violating the rights of ethnic Russian minorities, immigrants and prisoners.

"We are not satisfied with how the issue of Russian-speaking populations in the Baltics is being resolved," Putin said. "We know about the rights of immigrants in European countries and how they are violated. We know about the situation in the penal systems in some …