Self-invited Republics
// Abkhazia and South Ossetia’s representatives to be admitted to Geneva talks
Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be admitted to Geneva
Yesterday at their meeting in Luxemburg EU foreign ministers acknowledged that Russia fulfilled most of its Medvedev-Sarkozy plan commitments. However they refused to sanction resumption of negotiations for a new partnership and cooperation agreement (PCA) with Moscow. The meeting’s key outcome was the EU’s agreement to admit Abkhazia and South Ossetia’s representatives to tomorrow’s peace talks in Geneva. However, Kommersant found out that the format of the republics’ participation is not the one Moscow sought.
Concessive statements
The Foreign Office Chiefs, who convened yesterday in Luxemburg, were to prepare a meeting of EU leaders, which starts in Brussels on Wednesday. Like the emergency EU summit of September 1, it will focus on the consequences of the Georgian war and relations with Russia. It’s no surprise that these issues dominated yesterday’s meeting. First of all, the ministers had to discuss Moscow’s complying with its commitments in the framework of the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan, and decide on resuming talks with the Russian Federation about concluding a new PCA.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner delivered a report on the first matter: he visited Georgia on October 10-11 to monitor the situation in the buffer zones at the Abkhaz and South Ossetian borders. “The Russian party withdrew its troops from the territories adjacent to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. There are no Russian military in Georgia any longer,” Mr Kouchner shared his pleasure with his counterparts avoiding to give an estimation of the Russian troops’ presence in South Ossetia’s Akhalgori district and in the Upper Kodori. Almost all his colleagues agreed with Mr Kouchner’s assessment. Only Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt opposed. “We agreed that Russians should get to the positions they occupied before August 7. But if you look at the map, you will see they haven’t done it,” he exclaimed.
Arriving at a conclusion that Moscow fulfilled the peace plan provisions concerning withdrawing from Georgia, the Ministers turned out to have diverse views of their future line. Germany’s Deputy Foreign Minister G?nter Gloser proposed announcing immediately resumption of the PCA talks. “Some people say that we do Russia a favor. But it’s time to consider whether the European Union does itself a favor blocking the negotiations,” he tried to persuade his colleagues. “We need to take account of the relations with Russia, especially in the energy sector.” Finland’s Foreign Office Chief and OSCE current Chairman Alexander Stubb proposed resuming the talks with Moscow ahead of the next Russia-EU summit, which will be held in Nice on November 14. This idea was supported by Italy’s Franco Frattini.
Nevertheless, Britain’s David Miliband was against resumption of talks. “We can take up the PCA in due time, but now it is far more important to make sure that September’s agreements are realized as soon as possible,” he stated. In Mr Miliband’s opinion, it is sound to resume the PCA talks after the Geneva talks, planned for yesterday, give any results. Representatives of Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Poland and the Baltic States sided with him.
Then Bernard Kouchner offered compromise: the issue of resuming PCA talks was shifted to the summit in Brussels. In their final resolution the participants of the meeting endorsed the Russian troops’ withdrawal, pointing out that the situation in Akhalgori and the Upper Kodori will be discussed in Geneva. At their final press conference Mr Kouchner stated that Abkhazia and South Ossetia’s representatives will be admitted to those talks. However, he didn’t specify their status.
According to the sources of Kommersant with the EU headquarters in Brussels, Abkhazia and South Ossetia’s representatives won’t participate in a brief plenary session, but they will be admitted to expert consultations in two working groups, which will thrash out security issues and refugees’ problems. “Russian representatives agreed to a format like that,” the sources of Kommersant said.
This said, the format of the negotiations can be regarded as satisfying both parties: Russia sought the presence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia’s representatives, and the EU managed to avoid regarding Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. The UN debates over Kosovo proceeded a similar way before the region was recognized.
Correctional conclusion
Another important outcome of yesterday’s talks was the EU’s lifting the sanctions it imposed against Belarus and Uzbekistan “because of the considerable progress in human rights”. Curiously, Brussels used to believe Minsk and Tashkent the worst human rights violators in the post-Soviet space. Alexander Lukashenko’s regime was accused of persecuting opposition. The Belarusian leadership’s European accounts were frozen; Mr Lukashenko and some of his closest supporters were denied entrance to the European Union in 2002. The sanctions against Islom Karimov’s regime, including a ban on Uzbek top politicians’ entrance to the EU and embargo on arms supplies, were introduced in 2005, after the Andijan tragedy.
Interestingly, the EU’s stance towards both Minsk and Tashkent changed in August, after the end of the war in the Caucasus. The Uzbek government released human rights activist Mukhtabar Tojibayeva, who was sentenced to eight years in prison. Yesterday the EU Foreign Office Chiefs abolished the ban on issuing visas to Uzbek officials, although they extended the weapons embargo for another year. At the same time the EU communiqu? reads that Brussels will be glad to develop its dialogue with Tashkent.
A similar story happened with Alexander Lukashenko, who released political prisoners in August. European politicians began speaking about a possible thaw in the relations between the EU and Belarus. The parliamentary elections of September 20 were called the major test for Minsk: to wipe away his fame of Europe’s last dictator, Alexander Lukashenko was to allow opposition in the Parliament. However, no opposition activist got a mandate, and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights lashed out at the voting.
Nevertheless, yesterday Bernard Kouchner, EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner and EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana conducted talks with Belarus’ Foreign Minister Sergey Martynov, which were the first ones in three years. Then the Foreign Office Chiefs announced suspension of the ban on Belarusian officials’ entrance to Europe (including Alexander Lukashenko). “We were to demonstrate that progress is rewarded. If they do something, we should do something in response,” Ms Ferrero-Waldner stated yesterday.
Belarus’ opposition didn’t protest against the EU initiatives. “Excluding Lukashenko from this list is premature, to my mind. But this measure is intended to encourage Lukashenko only,” one of the opposition leaders Alexei Yanukevich told Kommersant. “The EU’s decision is time-limited. If no steps are taken to democratize the country, it won’ be prolonged.” “The sanctions were not lifted, they were suspended. This position satisfies The United Democratic Forces. So, it is now up to the government whether to develop good relations with the EU or not. Europe expects reciprocal measures from Lukashenko,” another opposition leader Anatoly Levkovich told Kommersant.
However, the sources of Kommersant with European diplomatic circles believe that Mr Lukashenko was rewarded for his refusal to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The interlocutors of Kommersant presume that further improvement in the relations is possible only in case this condition is preserved.
Alexander Gabuev; Yury Potyomkin, Minsk
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 14, 2008
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