26 April 2002 00:00
IN CONNECTION WITH EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION ON SITUATION IN CHECHNYA
In connection with the adoption on April 10, 2002, by the European Parliament of Resolution 0174 (2002) On the Situation in Chechnya (hereafter "the Resolution") the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation considers it necessary to declare the following.
The Resolution is drawn up in an anti-Russian spirit and extremely politicized and bears a pronounced ad hoc and non-constructive character. It causes regret that at the base of the Resolution lies only the information of the State Department of the United States of America and a number of non-governmental organizations well known for their biased attitude to the problem of human rights protection in the Russian Federation. The deputies of the European Parliament had ignored the well-known positive changes in the Chechen Republic, of which the Russian Federation had more than once officially informed the parliaments and governments of all the states of Europe.
Likewise it is hardly a mere coincidence that the Resolution appeared literally in the wake of the adoption on March 20, 2002, by the Senate of the United States of America of Resolution 213 (2002) on the condemnation of human rights violations in Chechnya and on the need for a political settlement of the conflict, steeped in the same avowedly anti-Russian spirit.
What causes the particular bewilderment of the deputies of the State Duma is the fact that the Resolution was adopted before a visit by European Parliament members to the Chechen Republic, where they would have had an opportunity objectively and comprehensively to acquaint themselves with the state of affairs on the spot.
The State Duma notes with regret that the European Parliament at the same time continues stubbornly not to notice human rights abuses in states which it is traditionally customary to call democratic. There arise a whole series of logical questions. Why does the European Parliament not give an assessment to the introduction in the US of an institution of military tribunals with procedures of hearing of cases without the observance of internationally recognized legal-procedure norms? Why is the voice of European Parliament deputies not heard as regards the continuing discrimination against persons whose native language is Russian in a number of Baltic states? Where, finally, is the reaction of the European human rights defenders to the many and unjustified casualties among the civilian population of Yugoslavia and Afghanistan as a result of the notorious pinpoint strikes by aircraft of member states of the North Atlantic Treaty, primarily the US, during the conduct of the military operations on the territories of Yugoslavia and Afghanistan?
The deputies of the State Duma are convinced that members of the European Parliament continue to apply the policy of double standards in the field of human rights, dividing states into untouchables which are allowed to commit any acts, and states which can be subjected to extreme criticism, including under far-fetched pretexts.
In the view of the State Duma deputies, this position of the European Parliament rules out the possibility of combining efforts to resolve the situation in the Chechen Republic and to establish for these purposes a joint working group, to which the authors of the Resolution hypocritically call upon.
The State Duma believes that the Resolution contradicts the spirit of partnership between the Russian Federation and the European Union in the struggle against new threats to European and global security, above all against international terrorism, as well as calls upon the deputies of the European Parliament to act along the lines of their declared readiness for equitable and genuine cooperation with the Russian Federation in the solution of these problems.
Moscow, April 25, 2002
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© Publication of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
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