Brussels, 07/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - The opposition and members of Russian civil society called, on Tuesday 6 March, for EU assistance to move Russia towards democracy. “It is up to us, civil society, to restore democracy to Russia but if our European friends want to help us, then that would be a good thing”, said Vladimir Kara-Murza of Solidarnost, requesting “practical support, not just words”. He called on the EU to impose sanctions on high-ranking officials, “who infringe rights to freedom, to elections …”, by putting conditions on their being granted visas, “as in Belarus”. He pointed out that many of these officials “send their children to school and holiday in Europe”.
The opposition “needs the support of the EU”, added Pavel Khodorkovsky of the Modern Russia Institute. Khodorkovsky, the son of the imprisoned oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, said that the opposition had problems in organising and that it had to be given the “chance to become organised long-term” and to “present a coherent message to take the rest of the population” with it.
Andrei Buzin of Golos election monitoring believes things are moving forward: Europe has become very interested in elections in Russia and there are popular movements - these are relatively recent developments, he argued. He stated that the elections had been neither free nor fair, “terms used by Europeans … but we don't know what free and fair elections are”.
For these opponents of the regime, the question is not whether there will be democratic change in Russia, but when that change will take place.
The leader of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt, said that it would be a massive error to continue business as usual in relations with Russia. He argued that pressure had to be maintained with unequivocal statements: this was not the time for offering congratulations. “The EU and the European Parliament must continue to insist on democratic reforms”, he added. Verhofstadt would like a plenary session debate to be held next week in Strasbourg and a clear declaration adopted. (CG/transl.rt)