2009 ORDINARY SESSION

________________________

(Fourth part)

REPORT

Thirty-third Sitting

Thursday 1 October 2009 at 10 a.m.

Mr HERKEL (Estonia). – I am not a lawyer, but after I read the document I thought how much I like reports that have juridical exactness and contain clear facts. The report is based on good will, I think, but that is not expressed with exactness and the approach is rather essayistic. I do not agree with the rapporteur’s statements and memorandum about post-Soviet traumatology and some of the sociology about power structures in Russia. You are saying that the Russian delegation has no influence on the Russian authorities that are responsible for fulfilling our demands, but, at the same time, you are asking for dialogue. Of course, that is a good idea but it prompts the question of how we can have dialogue with those who do not have any real impact in the country. The question would arise of whether there is parliamentarianism at all. I do not see Russian colleagues in the Chamber for this debate – that is also very important – or the chairman of the Russian delegation.

We must take into account the fact that an information war is going on. It was not only the real war that was devastating: the information war existed before the conflict, during the conflict and it is still going on. It affects many of the neighbours of the Russian Federation. Georgians are labelled invaders, Ukrainians are accused of stealing gas and the Balts are labelled as being very bad because we did not accept Soviet occupation after the Second World War.

So, the cold war is back in this context. So far, this soft approach is contradictory. I have one last comment for Mr Gross. We have had excellent co-operation for many years. In 2006, you raised a question about the credentials of the Azerbaijani delegation – I was on the same boat – on the basis of rigged elections. Now, you oppose the suggestion that even voting rights be affected when one country is occupying another’s territory.

The whole document is here: http://assembly.coe.int/