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Russia: Ashton urges free and fair elections and outlines areas of international cooperation

02-02-2012

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton has urged the Russian leadership do its utmost to hold free and fair presidential elections next month. In a speech at the European Parliament yesterday, Ashton said ever more people in Russia wanted to see real change.

The Russian voters are calling for real participation, for more decisive measures to rein in corruption and impunity, and to give more breathing space to democratic processes,said Ashton, stressing they were ready to express their opinion peacefully.
 
In her words, the best way forward is to engage in dialogue with the protesters and the opposition, and together define an agenda of change.
 
The High Representative said the announcement by the ‘tandem’(President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin) last autumn that they would swap jobs again had made many Russian citizens“feel that things were being decided between only two men, over the heads of voters.”
 
High Representative Ashton said she had raised a number of concerns over the Duma elections with President Medvedevduring the EU-Russia summit last December, especially those voiced earlier by the OSCE observers such as registration and access to electronic media.
 
With regard to the forthcoming Presidential elections on 4 March, Ashton urged the Russian authorities to review as a matter of urgency the decision not to register GrigoryYavlinsky, a leading opposition politician.
 
Turning to the international agenda, Catherine Ashton said differences had recently emerged between the EU and Russia over how to deal with the growing crisis in Syria. As a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council, Russia needs to take its responsibility for international peace and security seriously, Ashton stressed.
 
The High Representative also expressed hope that the EU and Russia would find common ground over Iran’s nuclear programme and that important, though at times “difficult” cooperation would continue over Georgia and Moldova, where both sides engaged in efforts to resolve protracted conflicts.
 
Ashton underlined that despite difficulties, the desire to find common ground and “enable the international community to respond prevails”,with the EU approach of constructive yet critical cooperation with Russia“bearing fruit”.
 
“The EU is well prepared to support and encourage a domestic political process in Russia that aims at the development of its democratic institutions and the rule of law, a modern economy and a vibrant civil society whose human rights are respected and whose aspirations for a more open and dynamic society are matched by the reforms undertaken by its government,” said Catherine Ashton. .” (ENPI Info Centre)
 
 
Read more
 
Speech
 
ENPI Info Centre - EU and Russia – economies and societies increasingly intertwined, says Ashton(14-12-2011)
 
ENPI Info Centre webpage - Russia
 
EU Delegation to Russia