06.02.2006 Russia, Moscow. Shooting: the Portrait to interview, Sergey Strokan, correspondent of Kommersant.
Photo: Alexander Miridonov
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On the Horns of Dilemma
Curiously, the current session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is held on the threshold of the inauguration of Russia’s president-elect Dmitry Medvedev, planned for early May. The PACE was the only European organization to send its observers to the Russian election, later declaring it “to reflect the will of the voters”. With this said, PACE seemed to automatically obtain a special status in its future relations with Moscow. More to the point, Strasbourg was the first in the western world to anoint President Medvedev, overriding the OSCE’s boycott of the election.
Anyway, the question how Russia and its relations with the rest of the world will change under Vladimir Putin’s successor, has sharpened. With the election of Dmitry Medvedev, the world capitals expect Russia’s political system to become more friendly and democratic. No one seems to have any doubt in a new thaw coming. Only the speed and the extent of rolling back the former policy of “vertical of power” and “turning the screws” is disputed, with attempts made to see through the Kremlin’s keyhole what’s happening within the Russian government.
As things stand now, the relations of Russia and the PACE are to become a litmus test of Russia’s readiness for change so much awaited by its western counterparts. Strasbourg seems to be the right arena for Moscow to make symbolic gestures and demonstrate the signs of thaw. Not only because the PACE played up to Russia during the March election. One should bear in mind that the Council of Europe is made up of 47 states, which is practically the entire Europe. This organization, larger than the European Union, is traditionally reputed to specialize in those issues which in recent years have been most controversial in the relations of Moscow and the West.
Now imagine which effect Russia’s ratification of the protocol on the reform of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) might have for moulding a new image of the country headed by lawyer-president Medvedev, fighter against legal nihilism. Unblocking the ECHR reform, Russia would give a chance to defend their rights in court not only to its citizens, but also to thousands of other European states’ citizens, waiting for their cases to be tried for years. It takes the present pre-reformed ECHR too long to do it, and it can’t be made faster. The ratification would be a step towards undermining the position of the critics of “the sovereign democracy,” arguing that such democracy should be called a different way.
Nonetheless giving a green light to the reform of the European Court means exposing the Russian justice, casting doubt on “the world’s most humane court,” which is hard to dare.
All in all, Moscow is on the horns of a dilemma. One won’t be able to refer the unwillingness to meet the wishes of the PACE to the Duma’s stance, which appears to have opposed the president in this issue. Who will believe that it’s possible in Russia?
Sergey Strokan, observer
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 14, 2008
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