Asia Times: Criticism of Russia gets louder, still no sanctions



	December 18, 1999	atimes.com

Central Asia/Russia

Criticism of Russia gets louder, still no sanctions
By Brian Kenety

BRUSSELS - The European Union ''could not be expected to sit on our hands'' forever if Russia continues its military campaign in Chechnya, Chris Patten, the EU's commissioner for external affairs said on Thursday. But he stopped just short of threatening Russia with outright suspension of aid or trade ties.

The EU has recently underlined the need to seek a negotiated settlement holding Moscow ''to its word that it is not seeking a military solution'' to the conflict, which ''would turn out to be a major political mistake''.

European foreign ministers have for weeks discussed a range of punitive measures which could be imposed on Russia, from suspending a joint EU-Russian scientific project and halting deliveries of food aid, to pressuring international lenders to withhold loans.

Patten readily admitted to reporters that he could not ''place hand on heart'' and truthfully say that the Union's past strong condemnations of Russian policy in the troubled northern Caucasus region had shown any impact on the ground.

Appeals from Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov to hold negotiations on brokering peace seemed to fall on deaf ears as Russian troops continued to encircle Grozny on Thursday, where several thousand rebels are encamped.

Russia's bombing of towns and villages and the alleged ill-treatment of the increasing number of refugees and internally displaced persons, has led to calls for stiff economic penalties.

Ostensibly because Moscow reneged on pledges to make structural economic reforms outlined in a loan agreement, the IMF recently refused to disburse a $640 million (638 million euros) tranche of a $4.5 billion package approved in July.

In the wake of the IMF decision, the Russian government is reportedly considering alternative funding sources, including a bond issue targeting foreign investors.

The international pressure group Human Rights Watch (HRW) is therefore now calling the World Bank, another major international lender, to withhold a pending $100 million (99.8 million euro) payment under a structural adjustment loan to the Russian Federation.

HRW says Russian troops went on a devastating rampage at the weekend after capturing the village of Alkhan-Yurt, ten miles southwest of Grozny. According to the testimonies of three witnesses interviewed by HRW, Russian troops looted and destroyed many of the remaining houses in the village, and summarily executed numerous civilians who resisted the looting.

In an open letter dated 14 December to bank president James Wolfensohn, HRW said that if the bank made the payment, it would be implicated in ''abuses'' such as bombing, looting, and extra judicial executions now allegedly being committed by Russian troops. ''The Bank shouldn't finance the abusive and destructive conduct we are seeing in Chechnya,'' said HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth.

''We understand, of course that the Bank is constrained by its Articles of Agreement, as well as its loan agreement with the Russian Federation,'' the letter says. ''However, we cannot accept that these restrictions could require the Bank to finance a government engaged in activities that so clearly violate international law and undermine the Bank's fundamental development goals...'' said Roth.

Furthermore, HRW demanded the Bank to clearly articulate respect for international human rights as a condition for continued financial support.

''The Russian misperception that they are being treated unfairly by the international community is only likely to be worsened by obvious obfuscation such as that undertaken recently by the IMF. Everyone, including the Russian people, knows full well'' that the real reason for the measure is the situation in Chechnya, said Roth.

The European Parliament's Socialist Group has been among the most vocal within the EU in calling for the a freeze on new contracts under a major EU aid program known as Tacis, which has supplied Russia with more than $1.3 billion since 1991.

Only projects related to promoting a civil society would be exempt from the freeze if a motion tabled by three senior members of the group wins approval.

Patten said Thursday that EU foreign ministers were looking at limiting the amount of assistance under Tacis, although funding for nuclear programs, strictly humanitarian aid, and democracy-building elements of the program would not be affected. He said that the EU-Russia Partnership and Co-operation Agreement would also be reviewed.

Patten told reporters that the EU's council of ministers was now reviewing its common strategy with Russia and after meeting formally in January would put specific proposals to the European Parliament on imposing trade sanctions on Russia and suspending non-humanitarian aid.

Citing Moscow's chronic failure to live up to trade agreements with the EU, and Brussels' lenient posture in the past, he said that ''it would be difficult to expect us to be immediately understanding on trade issues'' - Russia is presently breaching a trade agreement on non-ferrous steel.

On trade, one possible penalty the EU could impose on Russia would be to revoke its most-favoured nation trading status. Cash-strapped Russia currently enjoys a 10-billion-euro trade surplus with the Union. Although the EU accounts for 40 percent of total Russian trade, the corresponding figure for the 15-member bloc is a mere 3 percent.

''Let me repeat: we are not making threats,'' said Patten, who was emphatic in his view that the EU and the world should not make the mistake of isolating Russia, ''but neither can we continue (our relationship with Moscow) as if nothing has happened.''

The United States has taken a less assertive approach in demanding that Russia halt its offensive, with President Bill Clinton saying that imposing international sanctions is not the right course of action. ''A sanctions regime has to be imposed by the United Nations, and Russia has a veto there. But I am not sure that would be in our interests, or in the interests of the ultimate resolution of the crisis,'' he told a news conference in Washington last week.

Clinton did, however, leave open the possibility of withholding support for IMF loans to Russia. The issue of sanctions is certain to be on the agenda of the EU-US summit which begins on Friday December 17 in Washington.

(Inter Press Service)