RUSSIA PREPARES TO DEFEND ITSELF AGAINST ATTACKS FROM EUROPEAN DEPUTIES
Vadim Trukhachev

PRAVDA
Jan 27 2009
Russia

The winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe (PACE) began working in Strasburg. European deputies will do
what they like doing most – criticize Russia for all of its recent
steps in home and foreign politics. At any rate, one shall expect
anti-Russian remarks during the discussion of such issues as South
Ossetia, Ukraine and the Baltic states. The agenda will also include
the consequences of the financial crisis, the war in Gaza and other
problems.

Russia will not be the only antihero at the session. Armenia (an
Asian republic of the former USSR) also gained some attention of the
PACE deputies. They claim that Armenia did not fulfill the resolution
of 2008, did not release political prisoners and did not conduct the
unbiased investigation of the events which took place in the country
on March 1-2, when an opposition meeting ended with riots in which
ten people were killed.

As for the fuel issue, the Europeans will try to build the Nabucco
pipeline as soon as possible to transport the Caspian crude to Europe
bypassing Russia. Armenia, Russia’s ally, seems to be a weak link at
this point. Therefore, Europe will have to put some pressure on the
Armenian administration to make it run pro-Western foreign policy.

PACE rapporteurs believe that Russia has not met several requirements
of last year’s resolution on South Ossetia. "The Assembly is sorry that
Russia has not met most of the requirements of the Assembly, including
numerous requirements that are not related to the issue of the status
of two regions (South Ossetia and Abkhazia)," the draft document
runs. The document does not specify any of those requirements, though.

Nevertheless, the head of the Russian delegation in Strasburg,
Konstantin Kosachev, is optimistic about the session. He said that the
PACE could mitigate the final version of the prepared resolution. "It
is not ruled out that Russia will support the resolution once it is
constructive," Kosachev said.

Another issue on the agenda also catches attention: "The investigation
of the crimes committed by top officials during Leonid Kuchma’s rule
in Ukraine." On the one hand, it looks like an awkward attempt to
whitewash Viktor Yushchenko, whose image in Europe was blackened during
the recent gas crisis. Specialists say that Yushchenko’s rule will
look somewhat better against the background of the crimes committed
during Kuchma’s rule. However, Yushchenko is not bad at all for the
deputies from Poland and the Baltic states just because of the fact
that all his actions are aimed against Russia.