OSCE chairman in Moscow amid tension over future
.c The Associated Press
MOSCOW (AP) – The chairman of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe was in Moscow on Tuesday for potentially tense
talks with Russia, which has accused Europe’s largest security body of
double standards in monitoring rights and democracy.
Dimitrij Rupel, who is also Slovenia’s foreign minister, was slated to
meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Lavrov has led
Russian calls for reform of the 55-member organization, which Moscow
says unfairly criticizes governments in some countries and allows its
appraisals of elections to be colored by political interests.
Rupel said before his visit that he and Lavrov would discuss OSCE
reform issues, as well as the organization’s budget and the election
of its secretary general, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
“Russia’s voice is highly important within the organization,” the
agency quoted Rupel as saying.
Russia, together with former Soviet republics Armenia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine,
last summer accused the OSCE of double standards. They said it spends
too much money on field missions to promote human rights and
democratic institutions in certain countries while overlooking others.
OSCE representatives were among the observers who said Russia’s
parliamentary elections last December and the campaign that led to
President Vladimir Putin’s March re-election fell short of democratic
standards.
The organization has also criticized elections in other ex-Soviet
republics – including Ukraine, where the victory of the
Russian-supported candidate in a November presidential vote was
overturned by the Supreme Court after observers reported fraud.
In an interview published Tuesday in the Russian daily Izvestia, Rupel
said that the OSCE’s election monitoring missions are neutral and
objective, but that he welcomes any suggestions on improving their
work, and urged Russia to send more observers to participate in the
missions.
Shortly after taking office last month, Rupel said the OSCE must
intensify its work to promote democracy and human rights even as it
faces “a difficult time” because of the internal rift over its
future. He called the tone of the dispute “reminiscent of an era that
we thought we had put behind us” – alluding to the Cold War – but
added: “That will not discourage us from going forward.”
02/01/05 04:55 EST