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SPIEGEL Online uutisoi Vihreiden meppien viisumivaikeuksista 12 lokakuuta 2007 14:31
CONFERENCE IN JEOPARDY - Russia delays visa for Green MEPs By Nicole Messmer and Simone Schlindwein"Russian authorities block visas for Green MEPs, jeopardising a conference with regime critics on issues like human rights and democracy, which had been planned in advance of the forthcoming Duma elections. (--) The conference was due to discuss issues such as the democratic development of Russia, the Chechnya conflict, nuclear pollution, and freedom of expression and the press. After weeks of to-ing and fro-ing with the authorities, it now seems clear that the conference will not take place so quickly - at least not before the Duma elections in December. The Russian ambassador in Brussels, Vladimir Chizhov, informed the Group's Co-President Daniel Cohn-Bendit in a letter : "I take the liberty to suggest you that it would be more advisable to postpone such contacts until after the electoral cycle is over". By "such contacts" he meant Russian MPs who were equally supposed to attend the conference. However, during the intense period of the election campaign, they are too busy to attend a conference with foreign representatives, according the official declaration. In practice, only one of the invited speakers is a member of the Duma, Constantin Kosachev, the president of the Foreign Affairs Committee. "You won´t get visas" Bart Staes, Belgian Green MEP, had prepared the conference himself and is now fighting to try and ensure it can take place at all. In a personal conversation with ambassador Chizhov, he argued that speakers like the Jabloko-President Jawlinski had already confirmed their presence despite the election campaign. On this, the representative of the Russian Federation said politely, but clearly : "You can make as many appointments as you like, you won´t get visas." Cohn-Bendit reacted angrily to this procedure : "This is another worrying sign that the country is closing up and that a democratic debate on key issues in Russia is no longer desired." He suggests that the current Russian government simply does not like to offer a joint discussion-platform to foreign critics and members of the Russian opposition. Dennis Bilonv, official spokesperson of chess-champion Kasparov, is outraged : "This is another sign of the kind of police state we have here". He urges a reaction from European society: "Europe should finally stop treating Putin as the head of a democratic country." The President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering (CDU), wrote a letter to Boris Gryslow, President of the Duma inviting him to help the Greens hold their meeting in Moscow. "In democratic countries, it goes without saying that you don´t refuse entry to Members of parliament", Pöttering said to SPIEGEL ONLINE. "Dialogue is the basis of understanding. This is the aim of the MEP's trip".(--)" |
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