EU spars with Russia over rights

[frigidmagi]

BBC

Russia and the EU have traded accusations over human rights abuses, at their first high-level talks since a gas row soured relations last month.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the killings of a human rights lawyer and a journalist in Moscow recently caused the EU concern.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin then angrily accused the EU of human rights abuses within its own territory.

He said "the full range of problems" concerning rights had to be discussed.

The murder of prominent Russian human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and newspaper reporter Anastasiya Baburova in broad daylight in Moscow last month drew international condemnation.


We need to discuss the full range of problems - both in Russia and in Europe - in order to be able to solve them
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

Murder of lawyer shocks Russians

Russia's plan to build military bases in two breakaway regions of Georgia also raised tensions during the discussions, correspondents say.

On Thursday, the Czech Republic, holder of the EU presidency, said it was "seriously concerned" by the moves in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, over which Russia and Georgia went to war last August.

"The EU would consider the implementation of such plans to be a serious violation of the principle of Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity," it said.

Bitter exchange

Speaking just before the visit by Mr Barroso, an EC spokesman told the BBC that the talks would be a test of whether the political relationship could now improve despite the continuing fall-out from last month's gas crisis and the war between Russia and Georgia.

He stressed that in a mature relationship it should be possible to discuss areas of all of disagreement, including the rule of law and human rights.

And that is exactly what Mr Barroso did during his talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow says.

Mourners laying flowers at scene of Markelov murder, 20 Jan 09
Last month's murders fuelled fears about freedom of speech in Russia

But when Mr Barroso went on to disclose this at a news conference following his next meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, he got an earful, our correspondent adds.

Mr Barroso had said the European Union was concerned about the murder of journalists and human rights activists in Russia.

Visibly angry, Mr Putin accused him of hypocrisy, saying immigrants' and prisoners' rights in Europe were being trampled on, as were the rights of Russian minority populations in the Baltic states.

"We need to discuss the full range of problems - both in Russia and in Europe - in order to be able to solve them," he added.

Mr Barroso shot back by saying that in Europe, criticism was accepted.

And he stressed that the Baltic states - which are EU members - are democracies that respect the rule of law.

Our correspondent says it was a bitter exchange, and the visit seems to have highlighted tensions rather than built bridges.

Energy security

Before his meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier on Friday, Mr Barroso had said negotiations on a new EU-Russia framework agreement were under way.

He said the nine commissioners accompanying him on the visit represented "the many issues we need to discuss so that we can deepen our relationship".

Russian gas pumping station
The EU does not have a lasting guarantee of Russian gas supplies

Mr Barroso said the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine, which caused severe gas shortages in several EU states after Russia halted supplies, was one of the issues and reiterated his disappointment at the incident.

"It is important now to create conditions for this kind of crisis not to happen again. We believe energy security is a very important sphere of interest for Russia and the European Union," he said.

"And this positive interdependence is more important now than ever because we are facing a very serious global financial crisis," he said.

Mr Medvedev said there needed to be a "fully-fledged international legal system" to prevent a recurrence.

Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine on New Year's Day, saying it would pump only enough for customers further down the pipeline. But it then accused Kiev of siphoning off gas intended for third countries.

Ukraine denied the claim, but the flow of Russian gas ceased completely on 7 January.

Hundreds of thousands of people went without heating in Eastern and South-Eastern. Bulgaria, one of the hardest hit countries and a historical ally of Russia, had to close schools and public buildings.

Gas flows were resumed on 20 January after Russia and Ukraine finally agreed prices at which Ukraine would buy gas, and ship it to Europe. The EU sent monitors to their borders to check the flow of gas.

[Cynical Cat]

It's a glorious mess.

1) Dissent is being crushed in Russia and the politics is ugly.

2) The Baltics are treating their Russian minorities like shit.

3) The Ukrainians have been stealing gas . . . .if you can use the word "steal" for taking stuff an oligarch "owns". Of course they're fucking poor and need the heating. If this was D&D, paladins would be getting xp and DM pat on the back for doing it.

4) I'm sure the Russian Army, which in a charming hold out from Czarist times still brutalizes many of its recruits, committed no atrocities at all in Georgia. Nor did the South Ossetians irregulars, who would have no reason at all to commit revenge for crimes real and imagined against people the regard as ethnic enemies.

Point 4 was included to aid everyone in calibrating their sarcasm detectors.

[frigidmagi]

2) The Baltics are treating their Russian minorities like shit.

If I could touch on that a bit... Let first say, yes the Russians in the Baltics are being treated like shit, they are officially 2nd class citizens and the standing official policy of the republics is de-Russian them or get them to move out. It's a popular official policy I've been told and I'll get to why in a minute. I also want to throw out there that I disagree with the policy, treating people like crap over their origins and ethnic background (and in this case language) is a bad idea. It's immoral, it's dishonorable and frankly it's a dick move.

Now on to why they're doing this as I understand it.

The Baltics have a long and shitty historly. If it wasn't the Russians trying to treat them as colonies, it was the Germans, the Swedes or even the Poles (what did you think they were utterly snow white?). Under each group they were pressured to abandon their languages, religions and history. Out of that group the Poles were the least harsh, even in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth though people who assimilated with Polish culture got a better deal.

Now fast forward, when Poland finally fell and was ripped into 3 chunks by the Germans (Prussia actually), Russia and the Austrians, the Baltics ended up in Imperial Russia. After WWI Imperial Russia fell and the bear changed it's coat for a nice red color. The republics were independent. That didn't last long. The Soviets in the late 30s reconquered the area through a combination of threat of force and outright military action... Well the parts that Nazi Germany didn't take. The Baltics peoples didn't enjoy Soviet occupation.

Then the Nazis invaded the USSR. The Baltics welcomed them as liberators and a good number joined with the Nazis to kill Russians and get their own back. I'm not going to excuse this, it was a pretty stupid and evil thing to do, but if you think about it I'm sure you can see why they did this. Well the Soviets were less then happy when they came tearing back. The Baltics resisted being retaken (again) by the red bear but that was about as effective as pissing into the wind.

Guerrilla groups known as forest brothers would fight against the Soviets until they were wiped out. The last group was killed off in 1957.

During this time Russians were settled in the Baltics (other Russians had settled earlier but well... Yeah Nazis) as colonists more or less. Others would move in search of economic opportunities or political careers. So in the view of the Baltics the Russians are the children and grand children of foreign colonist out to steal their land and replace their culture with their own. Imagine if the Indians had managed to reseize a part of the US post 1830 or so and had a chunk of whites living in the area.

There's also the additional belief that the Russians are a possible 5th column for Mother Russia just over there. Trust for Moscow can be measured in millimeters in some places. Now honestly I think that last bit is likely just hysteria but the Baltics seem dead set on giving the Russians of the republics a reason to act as a 5th column.

And Moscow isn't a big fan of just sitting by while Russians get slapped around, just over there.

It's one hell of a shit sandwhich.