Amnesty International is urging the European Union to take a tough stance over alleged rights abuses in Chechnya when it holds talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Brussels on Monday.
"In terms of human rights abuse, Chechnya is the 'infectious sore' that colours so much of what is happening in Russia," Dick Oosting, head of Amnesty's EU office, said in a statement. "Both sides to the conflict commit atrocities, but it is of paramount importance that the EU confronts Russian policy on Chechnya," Oosting said.
EU diplomats said on Friday the 15-nation bloc would raise concerns over rights in Chechnya at Monday's summit and would call for a political resolution of the conflict, which has raged on and off for nearly eight years, with thousands killed.
Amnesty said the EU's credibility as a champion of democratic values was at stake over the Chechnya issue. "Monday's EU-Russia summit is a litmus test, especially as it comes at a time when the EU is discussing how to assert its global role as a community based on values," Oosting said. Amnesty said the EU should pressure Russia to protect civilians better, to hold impartial investigations into allegations of rights violations, including war crimes, and to ensure full access to detainees by the Red Cross.
Green and Radical members of the European Parliament planned a demonstration on Monday outside the summit headquarters at the European Council over Russian policy in Chechnya. They will also call for the release of Akhmed Zakayev, a senior aide of fugitive Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov who was recently detained by Danish authorities at Moscow's behest.
Denmark, which as current EU president will chair Monday's talks, is studying documents handed over by Moscow in its bid to have Zakayev extradited. Monday's summit had originally been scheduled to take place in Copenhagen, but Denmark switched the venue to Brussels after a dispute with Moscow over a Chechen conference that took place, with Zakayev's participation, in the Danish capital.
EU diplomats said the Zakayev affair was a Russia-Denmark matter that would not be raised at the summit. Russian forces withdrew from Chechnya in 1996 after 20 months of fierce fighting that cost thousands of lives. But Putin sent the army back in 1999 after attacks in neighbouring Dagestan and after nearly 300 people were killed in bomb attacks on apartment blocks in Russian cities.