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Europe Withdrawn from the Elections
// Russia demands reform of the OSCE
The annual meeting of OSCE member-state foreign ministers began yesterday in Madrid. The main topic of discussion there was the observation of elections in the post-Soviet states. Moscow, whose conflict with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has come to a head, introduced a draft document to seriously reduce the authority of OSCE election observers. The United States came to the defense of the office. Washington criticized the Russian initiative and for the first time officially expressed its support for the office's decision not to send observers to the State Duma on December 2.
Not a Millimeter of Concession
The meeting of the foreign ministers of the OSCE member states that started yesterday in Madrid promises to be no less tense than last year's in Brussels, where Moscow first called the organization's very existence into question. The main question that divided Russia and the West then was the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe, the “frozen conflicts” in the former Soviet Union and reform of the OSCE. Disagreements over those issues have only become greater in the passing year, especially after Russia's recent moratorium on observing the CFE, and now U.S. plans for a missile defense system is Eastern Europe can be added to the list of differences between them. But the biggest bone of contention at the moment is election monitoring in former Soviet states – an especially timely issue for Moscow.
Russia and six CIS states (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) have introduced a draft document in Madrid called “Basic Principles for Organizing the Observation of National Elections,” which would severely limit the authority of the observers' mission of the ODIHR. Moscow and its allies are suggesting that the size of the observers' mission be reduced to 50, instead of the 400-600 observers the OSCE sends to elections in the CIS now. The drafters also want to prohibit the observers to comment on the campaigning and elections until the official results have been announced by the central elections commission. Now they can comment as soon as the polls have closed. A Kommersant source in the OSCE said that the Russian Foreign Ministry sent a draft of the document to the organization in September.
Moscow argues that the ODIHR is a partisan organization that has turned into a conduit for Western interests in the former Soviet Union. “Russia is proposing to work out unified rules of the game and clear approaches, since many ODIHR missions are not entirely transparent,” Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs told Kommersant.
Moscow's dissatisfaction with the ODIHR reached its culmination after the office declined to send observers to the December 2 Duma elections, saying that Russian authorities were hindering their actions. In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the office of attempting to “delegitimize and disrupt the elections in Russia” at the recommendation of the U.S. State Department. He advised the West “not to stick its snotty nose in Russia's affairs.” He added that “This shows one more time that many structures, including the OSCE need to be reformed, and we will insistently advance that issue.”
The ODIHR has already called the Russian initiative an attempt to dismantle a monitoring system that been formed through many years. “That document deprives us of the ability to observe elections and it undermines all of our work,” ODIHR press secretary Urdur Gunnarsdottir told Kommersant. “Moscow's proposals turn all of the obstacles we have encountered in our relations with Russian authorities in legal practice. I hope they reject the proposals in Madrid.”
The U.S. has come to the defense of the monitoring as it is. U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, who is heading the American delegation in Madrid, said that the U.S. would not concede “a millimeter.” Thus he made it clear that the U.S. would block Russia's efforts. Furthermore, he denied Putin's claims that the U.S. had influenced the ODIHR. "It is patently untrue. We challenge the Russian government to back up that statement with any degree of evidence," Burns said.
Burns's statement was perhaps the most decisive by any American official since the beginning of the conflict over election observers. Burn essentially made it clear that the U.S. understands and sympathizes with the ODIHR. Burns also indirectly cast doubt on the legitimacy of the December 2 Russian elections. It is not surprising, therefore, that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called Washington's position “extremely unconstructive.” “It's too bad that all of Russia's constructive suggestions run up against the unwillingness to concede a millimeter, not for the first time,” the minister said.
Kilometers of Misunderstanding
Election monitoring is not the only battleground for Russia and the West. The Russian delegation will discuss other hot topics in Madrid, such as CFE, missile defense and Kosovo. Moscow is counting on its allies from the Collective Security Treaty Organization for support. According to information obtained by Kommersant, Lavrov and the foreign ministers of the other CSTO states checked their positions against each other one last time before the beginning of the meeting yesterday. One of the main goals of Moscow and its allies at the meeting seems to be to advancing Kazakhstan to the post of chairman of the OSCE for 2009. CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha stated yesterday that “We are certain that it would ensure real equality of rights among the participants in the OSCE and a just geographical balance in the executive structures of that organization.”
Kazakhstan's chairmanship of the OSCE has been a source of disagreement between Russia and the West before. At last year's meeting, it was also discussed, and Kazakhstan's candidacy was supported by a number of Western European countries, including Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and France, as well as the CIS states. But the U.S. and Great Britain were strongly opposed and, thanks to their efforts, its candidacy was postponed. This time, it seems that Russia is more determined. At the beginning of the month, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko (who accompanied Lavorv to Madrid) stated that, if the West refuses to give Kazakhstan the chairmanship of the OSCE, Russia will not support another candidate. If that occurs, the OSCE runs the risk of going without a chairman for at least a year, if not three, since the chairmen through 2011 are to be chosen in Madrid.
The West is ready to make the concession of making Astana chairman after 2009. “Kazakhstan's chairmanship in 2009 is disputable for many, since there were just extremely questionable parliamentary elections there. But in 2010 or 2011, Astana could get the spot,” a Western diplomatic source told Kommersant. Even Washington seems willing to accept that option. Burns called Kazakhstan “a country friendly to the United States” in Madrid. A Western diplomat in Madrid told Kommersant that that seriously worries him is Russia's inflexibility. As if confirmation of those concerns, Lavrov stated, “Our position on Kazakhstan is firm, without attempts to place conditions on that decision.”
Thus Russia and the West risk not agreeing on the majority of the items on the agenda of the Madrid meeting. That might suit Moscow. The failure would only confirm that the OSCE needs reformation, as it insists. As has already been seen, the West will not accept Russia's reform plan. That may eventually lead to anything, even the collapse of the organization, as Lavrov showed yesterday. “Any unwillingness to make concessions means unwillingness to make an agreement. That position does not add hope for the future of the OSCE.”
Alexander Gabuev
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 30, 2007
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