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Afire With Resolutions
// Council of Europe Members Tackle Russia
The tone of the winter session of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) that opened yesterday in Strasbourg could fairly be called anti-Russian. Russia was criticized on a number of points: not ratifying the 14th protocol of reform of the European Court of Human Rights, the lack of progress in the investigation into the murder of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, and Russia's use of supplies of energy resources as an instrument of political pressure. Kommersant special correspondent Nargiz Asadova was on hand for the beginning of the proceedings in Strasbourg.
For the Russian journalists assembled in Strasbourg, the winter session of PACE began with a remark from the head of the Russian delegation, Konstantin Kosachev: "The bureau has decided not to hold urgent debates on Russian-Georgian relations." According to information obtained by Kommersant, the Russian deputies had spent a month working to make sure than the Russia-Georgia question would be stricken from the session's agenda. Thus, the bureau's decision was greeted by the Russian delegation as a victory. Mr. Kosachev said that the Council of Europe has taken note of the steps that the two countries have recently been making towards each other. At the end of last year, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili fired the main anti-Russian voice in his cabinet, Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili. In turn, the Russian side points out that it has demonstrated its good will by returning Vyacheslav Kovalenko, the Russian ambassador to Georgia, to duty in Tbilisi and by restoring the mail and money-transfer links between the two countries that were severed last fall.
Though the Georgian delegation opposed the bureau's decision, the objections were muted. "We need to approach this question realistically," said Nino Nakashidze, a member of the Georgian PACE delegation. "The Russian delegation announced that Russia has made some initial steps towards normalizing relations with Georgia. If we were now to insist on having our own way, the question would be closed. This way, we have the chance to continue to monitor the situation and to revive the discussion of Russian-Georgian relations at the session in April. Then it will be clear whether Russia really wants to resolve the problem." Ms. Nakashidze called the return of the Russian ambassador to Georgia a positive development, but she also said that it was not a very big concession to Tbilisi. "The financial and mail links between Russia and Georgia were also never really interrupted," she said. "First of all, the banks refused to stop sending money transfers, since that represented big profit losses. Secondly, with regard to postal communications, it's ridiculous to even talk about that in the 21st century, when anyone can send a letter by fax or by email," noted the Georgian delegate.
In Ms. Nakashidze's opinion, real steps that Russia could have made towards repairing relations with Georgia could have included reinstating transportation links and opening closed border crossings. "In addition, Russia should stop persecuting citizens on the basis of ethnicity," she said.
A stroke of luck saved Moscow from a discussion of yet another unpleasant topic. The agenda for the current PACE session originally included a review of a report compiled by a European parliament member from Cyprus, Kristos Punguridis, concerning the problem of fair criminal trials in cases involving espionage and disclosure of state secrets. Mr. Punguridis was planning to criticize Russia for the so-called spy cases that have been brought against Russian scientists and to demand the immediate release of Igor Sutyagin and Valentin Danilov. However, Mr. Pungurdis was unexpectedly taken ill not long before the beginning of the session, and the discussion of his report was postponed until April.
Still, however, the Russian delegation has plenty to be nervous about during the current session. Instead of the discussion of Russian-Georgian relations, urgent debates will be held on the resolution "Threats to the Lives and Freedom of Journalists." "We are concerned by the increasing number of murders of journalists in countries that are members of the Council of Europe," said PACE chairman Rene van der Linden at a press conference. "Last Friday, the editor-in-chief of an Armenian newspaper was murdered in Turkey. Of course, we were also disturbed by the murder of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Russia. During my recent visit to Moscow about ten days ago, I visited the offices of "Novaya Gazeta" [the newspaper that Politkovskaya worked for]. I expressed my condolences and sympathy to Anna Politkovskaya's colleagues. It is absolutely imperative that those guilty of her murder be found as soon as possible." During his visit to Moscow, Mr. van der Linden warned the Russian authorities that if the investigation drags on, PACE will take up the case of Ms. Politkovskaya's killing in a separate resolution.
Still another topic on the deputies' agenda that is not to Russia's taste is the matter of the 14th protocol of reform of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR): out of the 46 member-countries of the European Council, Russia is the only one that has not ratified the 14th protocol. According to Mr. Kosachev, that topic "provokes an enormous negative reaction in PACE" because the court in Strasbourg is the basic instrument of implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Russian deputies have claimed more than once that the main reason that Russia has not ratified the document is "the politically-motivated decision-making of the ECHR in relation to cases from Russia." As an example, they mention the ECHR verdict that awarded 35,000 euros to each of the Chitaev brothers, residents of Chechnya who filed a suit against Russia in the court alleging torture and illegal detention. The court delivered its verdict in that case on the eve of the winter assembly. Incidentally, the first journalist to cover that case was Anna Politkovskaya. PACE chairman Rene van der Linden emphasized that the ECHR "is not a political entity, but a judicial institution that defends the rights of the citizens of the European Council's members." He expressed hope that the decision of the Russian State Duma not to ratify the 14th protocol is not final. "I spoke with Boris Gryzlov, the speaker of the Russian parliament, and he assured me that the 14th protocol will be reviewed by the Duma after modifications in committee," said Mr. van der Linden.
Finally, today PACE will review the resolution "The Threat of Using Supplies of Energy Resources as an Instrument of Political Pressure," which is criticism addressed mainly to Russia. The idea to prepare a report on that topic dates from the beginning of 2006, after the "gas wars" between Russia and, variously, Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova. Then, while Estonian deputy Marko Mikhelson was preparing the report, Russia managed to create yet another crisis in early 2007 by raising the price of gas for Belarus. The Russian Duma has also threatened to introduce energy sanctions against Estonia in revenge for the Estonian parliament's decision to remove a monument to Soviet soldiers from the center of Tallinn.
The goal of Mr. Mikhelson's report is to find a way to solve the problem of the dependence of European countries on deliveries of energy products from Russia and to insulate them from possible energy blackmail. Meanwhile, Mr. van der Linden is attempting to resolve the conflict between Russia and Estonia by inviting the heads of both delegations to the meeting table.
One of the most important topics at the winter session of PACE will be a resolution about the status of Kosovo, a topic that is likely to be of huge interest to the Russian delegation. The entirety of tomorrow has been given over to a discussion of a report written by a deputy from Great Britain named Lord Russell-Johnston that openly advocates independence from Serbia for Kosovo. UN special representative Matti Ahtisaari is expected to take part in the discussion of the Kosovo question in Strasbourg tomorrow.
Nargiz Asadova
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 23, 2007
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