06 November 2002 00:00
ON OUTCOME OF RUSSIAN JUSTICE AND INTERIOR MINISTERS' MEETING WITH A EUROPEAN UNION TROIKA DELEGATION
A meeting has taken place in the Justice Ministry building in Moscow between Boris Gryzlov, Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia, and Yuri Chaika, Minister of Justice of Russia, and a European Union Troika delegation led by Lene Espersen, Minister of Justice of Denmark.
This meeting marked an important milestone on the road of strengthening cooperation in the field of justice and the law enforcement area between Russia and the European countries. The relevance of the meeting had increased in connection with the recent hostage-taking in Moscow. Lene Espersen on behalf of the European Union strongly condemned this terrorist action, stressing that it cannot be justified by any political motives.
In the course of the talks the sides noted that international terrorism is currently the most dangerous phenomenon threatening universal peace and security and underscored the necessity of concerted actions in the struggle against terror. The EU representatives expressed solidarity with the Russian Federation, which had become a target of terrorist aggression in Moscow on October 23-26.
The Russian side proposed to concentrate attention on the development under UN auspices of a Code of Protection of Human Rights from Terrorism and on the elaboration of a universal definition of the notion of terrorism as a particularly dangerous international crime. The Russian Federation expressed readiness to take the most active part in the development of relevant amendments to the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism of January 27, 1977.
The ministers agreed that priority attention in the area of the fight against organized crime must be paid to questions of the fight against illicit drug trafficking, money laundering and the illegal trade in stolen motor vehicles.
Special attention will be devoted to the struggle against corruption. Russia and the European Union are ready to combine efforts for work on the preparation of appropriate UN instruments.
The course of the reform of the legal and judicial system in Russia was discussed at the meeting, with the EU representatives noting with satisfaction that the Russian Federation is fulfilling the obligations assumed in the field of criminal and civil procedure.
The European Union offered its support to the Russian Federation in strengthening its administrative institutions, in particular, executive, legislative and judicial bodies, as well as the militia on the basis of democratic principles. It was agreed that the liaison officers of the European Union member states in the Russian Federation and their Russian counterparts must hold meetings at least once a year. The meeting participants agreed also to expand cooperation in the area of border regulation and migration and, in particular, step up the struggle against illegal migration.
The sides noted with satisfaction that Russia and Europol had achieved substantial progress at talks on a cooperation agreement providing for the exchange of strategic and technical information. The sides agreed to consider the question of a second agreement between Russia and Interpol envisaging the exchange of personal data.
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