Michael de Laine

Human rights incident mars EU-Russia meeting - reports

By Michael de Laine, Copenhagen, 10th February 2009

A clash over human rights between European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin marred a meeting on Friday that was meant to improve post-gas crisis ties between the EU and Russia, the EUObserver.com reports.

During a press conference in Moscow, a visibly angry Putin censured Barroso for having discussed “legal matters” with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in a bilateral meeting without Putin earlier the same day.

“We need to discuss the full range of problems - both in Russia and in Europe - in order to be able to solve them,” Putin said, accusing EU states of mistreating Russian ethnic minorities, prisoners and migrants.

“In [EU] public opinion there is some concern regarding some recent events that happened in Russia. Namely, the murder of some journalists and some rights activists,” Barroso replied. “Human rights and rule of law are much more important than diplomacy between two states.”

The unusual exchange came after the recent slaying, in broad daylight in the Russian capital, of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and reporter Anastasiya Baburova, who investigated state killings and torture in North Caucasus.

The diplomatic mission came in the wake of the January gas crisis, when Barroso also used strong language, at one point saying Russian and Ukrainian leaders were less trustworthy than some African states.

Russia’s invasion and partition of EU ally Georgia last August had already complicated relations. But the then French EU presidency tried to restore business as usual amid fears that a rupture could hurt EU trade and geopolitical interests.

Putin also said that EU monitors overlooking Russian gas flows via Ukraine should stay in place “until the end of the first quarter 2009.”

See: ‘Russian human rights lawyer murdered’ here and press conference report on Russian government website here.