Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-11-17-Speech-3-145"
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"en.19991117.5.3-145"2
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"Mr President, what we are experiencing in the second Chechen war is a double tragedy, firstly because the Chechen people are the victims and secondly because the current Russian policy in the Caucasus will not lead to a solution to the problems, but will only aggravate them.
We are witnessing a destabilisation of the region which will have long-term consequences. Today, so I have heard, a Georgian village is reported to have been bombed by Russian planes. This means that there is a danger that this conflict will not remain a purely Russian conflict, but will perhaps extend beyond the Russian borders. This would then undoubtedly be a problem and a further matter for the world community and, of course, the European Union to deal with.
I believe that in recent plenary part-sessions since the summer, this Parliament has tackled the problem of the second Chechen war in great detail, as indeed it has had to. We have taken up a very clear position. We will also, by the mutual consent of all groups, take up a position in the resolution before us today. This is necessary and right!
However, I also share the view of Commissioner Patten that we must not in any way end communication with the Russians. If we want to persuade, if we want to exert influence, then this can only be done by intensifying discussions with our Russian partners. We were visited last week, as Mr Oostlander previously stated, by a Russian parliamentary delegation. I can only say, and this is the major problem with this second Chechen war, that contrary to the first Chechen war the Russian parties in the Duma are nearly all united and, unfortunately, support the policy of the Putin government. This makes it perfectly clear how important dialogue is and what we need to do.
I think that the idea which was put forward here of possibly improving contact with the Russian Parliament through an ad-hoc delegation is an important one. And I also think that, since the Russians have asked us to act as electoral supervisors in the elections to the Duma, we must seriously consider whether to satisfy this request from the Parliament because this might be a further contribution to dialogue and to the development of more democracy and perhaps also better politics in Russia."@en1
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