Brussels, 19/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - Russia hopes to step up its cooperation with the European Union in all fields, including that of security and defence, but the EU does not seem ready to move forward as quickly as Moscow. That was the message delivered on Monday by Major General Gennady Savostyuk of the Russian mission to the EU, at an exchange of views with the sub-committee on defence and security of the European Parliament. In response to his grievances, several MEPs lost no time in pointing the finger at various aspects of Russian policy, notably on Chechnya, a subject which was carefully “forgotten” by Major General Savostyuk in his address.
In order to carry through its European security strategy (ESS), the EU must develop partnerships on an equal footing with its neighbours, including Russia, the Russian general opined. However, at the moment “there are no structures for this” and cooperation between the EU and Russia, particularly in terms of defence and security, “has not really got off the ground beyond grand declarations”, he said. He referred to the example of Russian police officers sent to Bosnia-Herzegovina to help with the EU's police mission on the ground, who “were not used in line with their skills and abilities”. “We would like to be able to organise peace-keeping missions with the EU, but the EU still does not agree for the time being”, Major General Savostyuk continued. He said the same of the fight against terrorism. Although there is “decent cooperation” between the European anti-terrorism coordinator Gijs de Vries and his Russian counterpart, there is “room to improve existing cooperation”, he said. “The ball is in the European Union's court”, and it must decide whether it wishes to achieve “swift results” or “stick to its grand declarations”. Russia would also like to boost its cooperation in the field of defence but here again, the EU is dragging its heels, the Russian General said. “The European Union has enormous potential in the field of armament and military technology”, and Russia “could be a partner” in this, but “our attempts to build contact with the European Defence Agency have come to nothing”, he said.
“You did not even mention Chechnya” in your speech, said Finnish MEP Ari Vatanen (UMP) but “as a military man, if you were honest with yourself you would have done”, he added. “You say that force should not be used [in South Korea] but the language used by Russia in Chechnya is the language of force”, Mr Vatanen pointed out. The Chechen leader Aslan Maskadov was killed “and his body was not even returned to his family”, he continued, asking what kind of a common future awaited the EU and Russia in view of Russia's actions in Chechnya. The situation in Chechnya is “a huge problem for Russia. I did not mention it, but that does not mean that it is not important”, was the Russian General's somewhat awkward defence, regretting “so much suffering” on the part of Russians and Chechens alike. Unsurprisingly, the Russian representative justified Moscow's policy in the Caucasian republic by the need to fight terrorism. After the collapse of the former USSR, Chechnya “got a lot of freedom, but it failed to follow the path of democratic reform and “we saw new threats emerging from Chechnya”. This being the case, “we decided to adopt an anti-terrorism policy which would also leave the people in peace”, he said, adding that there was always going to be fall-out from military operations. Beyond a doubt, in his view, “the biggest problem in Chechnya” was the lack of jobs, and “solving this problem will resolve many others”.