( CNN ) -- Russia and China have been downgraded to bottom-tier nations for their lack of efforts to fight human trafficking , a U.S. government report says . In the State Department 's annual Trafficking in Persons Report , China and Russia were relegated to Tier 3 , the lowest of four rankings , which names countries whose governments do not fully comply with minimum anti-trafficking standards and are not making significant efforts to do so . The classification includes countries like Iran , North Korea and Zimbabwe , and Tier 3 countries are open to sanctions from the U.S. government . In 2008 , the U.S. Congress put a limit on the number of years a country could remain ranked as Tier 2 Watch without concrete signs of action . After that limit is reached , there is an automatic downgrade . China was ranked as Tier 2 Watch for eight years , and Russia was on the list for nine . Tier 2 Watch is the third-ranked grouping , which identifies governments that do not fully comply with minimum standard and are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance , but face increasing trafficking problems . Opinion : A decade of action needed to end human trafficking . Tier 1 countries fully comply with the minimum anti-trafficking standards , and Tier 2 countries do not fully comply but are making significant efforts to reach those standards . The Trafficking in Persons Report ranks nations on efforts to fight trafficking , not just the number of trafficking issues a nations faces . A Russian official criticized his country 's downgrade , saying the rankings depend on `` political sympathies or antipathies of the U.S. State Department '' and alleging that the authors did n't make a deep , objective review of the reasons for a rise in human trafficking . Konstantin Dolgov , a human rights envoy with Russia 's Foreign Ministry , said the United States had previously issued an `` impossible '' list of legislative and other changes that the U.S. wanted Russia to make . `` Russian authorities will never be guided by the instructions developed in another country , all the more to meet the conditions that were set almost in the form of an ultimatum , '' Dolgov said . China has not yet offered an official response to the downgrading . Justin Dillon , CEO of Made in a Free World , said : `` Speaking truthfully about the modern-day slavery situation , in countries that have diplomatic and economic importance to us in other areas , proves that we can commit on things that we all agree on . Living up to our laws and shared values is a universal responsibility . '' China was named as a source , transit point and destination for trafficked people from all over the world , while its own citizens also risk being trapped in forced labor abroad . The report says state-sponsored forced labor also takes place in re-education camps . Criminal gangs ship Chinese women and girls abroad , the report says . It also says Chinese women and girls can be trafficked domestically for sex ; and others are imported into the country from neighboring countries . It adds that `` despite modest signs of interest in anti-trafficking reforms , the Chinese government did not demonstrate significant efforts to comprehensively prohibit and punish all forms of trafficking and to prosecute traffickers . `` The government continued to perpetuate human trafficking in at least 320 state-run institutions , while helping victims of human trafficking in only seven . The government also did not report providing comprehensive victim protection services to domestic or foreign , male or female victims of trafficking . '' It recommends that China improve its anti-trafficking laws and its record for prosecuting traffickers , including government officials who allegedly help traffickers . The report also says China 's efforts to help the victims was inadequate , with only seven centers for trafficking victims . Russia was also identified by the Trafficking in Persons Report as a source , transit point and destination country for trafficked people . But the report says Russia 's biggest problem is labor trafficking , with an estimated 1 million people working in exploitative conditions . It adds that prosecutions are low , compared with estimates of the problem . Russia 's efforts amounted to publishing a brochure and establishing a committee that has not yet met , the report says . It also criticizes Russia 's efforts to prevent trafficking and prosecute traffickers . It recommends that Russia develop national procedures for law enforcement and other officials so they can identify and act on trafficking suspicions . European police arrest 103 in suspected human trafficking ring . CNN 's Alla Eschenko contributed to this report .
NEW : Russian official : Rankings depend on `` political sympathies ... of the U.S. State Department '' Russia , China downgraded in U.S. State Departments anti-trafficking report . The report says China needs to improve anti-trafficking laws . In a statement released by Russia's Foreign Ministry, it said that ``the United States is not only responsible for this situation but also bears responsibility for its own actions and inactions.''