EXCHANGE OF VIEWS: US secretary of state Hillary Clinton used the backdrop of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) annual ministerial conference in Dublin yesterday to accuse Russia of spearheading efforts to "re-Sovietise" parts of eastern Europe and central Asia.
Mrs Clinton made the charge during a meeting with human rights and civil society activists before the main OSCE event opened at the RDS. She pointed to a pattern of repressive tactics and legislation aimed at reversing civil liberties across the territory. “There is a move to re-Sovietise the region,” she said.
“It’s not going to be called that. It’s going to be called customs union, it will be called Eurasian Union and all of that,” she said, referring to Russian-led efforts for closer regional co-operation. “But let’s make no mistake about it. We know what the goal is and we are trying to figure out effective ways to slow down or prevent it.”
Shrinking rights
Mrs Clinton said she agreed with the activists’ assessment that space for civil society and the protection of human rights is shrinking. “Governments are becoming much more aggressive in trying to stifle dissent, prevent the free expression and exchange of views,” she said.
“It’s distressing that 20 years into the post-Soviet era . . . so many of the hoped-for indicators of progress are retreating. And the impact on individuals and organisations is becoming more oppressive.”
Later Mrs Clinton joined her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and other foreign ministers and officials from the OSCE’s 57 member states to discuss security and human rights challenges within the organisation’s orbit, as well as its ability to adequately address such issues.
“I am here today to express a growing concern for the future of this organisation and the values it has always championed,” Mrs Clinton told the conference. “More than 20 years after the end of the cold war, the work of creating a Europe that is whole, free and at peace remains unfinished.”
She went on to lament “democratic backsliding” in Hungary, human rights “oppression” in Belarus and forthcoming Russian legislation that would require journalists to register as foreign agents.
Control of OSCE
Mr Lavrov, meanwhile, criticised what he described as “unilateralist” efforts to control the OSCE. He said plans to build an anti-missile shield and looser control over conventional weapons stockpiles threaten the region. He also proposed that the OSCE draw up new rules for observing elections to avoid what he described as “double standards” in assessing the different elections that took place this year, including in Russia, the US, France, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
“Hundreds of observers were sent to some places, while only several were sent to others,” Mr Lavrov said. “The same facts in various countries, for example early voting, were assessed differently.”