Only Belarus May Back Up Russia in Ljubljana
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Monday, 05 December 2005
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Kommersant - Moscow, Russia
The foreign ministries’ meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe, or OSCE, begins in Ljubljana today, December 5, 2005. Most likely,
Russia will have to go through hard times at the meeting, once it faces an ultimatum
demand to execute Istanbul agreements in part of pulling out the troops from Transdniestria
and Georgia. Moreover, some countries may put forward a resolution condemning
Russia’s new bill on nonprofit organizations.
“The OSCE’s problem is that it was created as a forum for dialog on
three dimensions of security – military and political, economic and humanitarian,
but has lost this function in the recent years,” said Russia’s Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov before he left for Ljubljana. Moscow expects the meeting
to “launch a real reform of the organization, pass definite resolutions
and the 2006 plan of reforms.”
But the most likely scenario is quite different. GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan
and Moldova) intends to come out in a united front against Moscow, forcing the
execution of Istanbul agreements, which, among other things, commit Moscow to
pull out its troops from Georgia and Transdniestria. Another point of concern
is the Kremlin’s course on tightening control over the activities of nonprofit
organizations in Russia and the future bill related to them.
In the meeting, Russia may refuse to yield to the pressure and even deny sealing
a final political declaration. Should it happen, it would be the dead failure
for the event.
by www.kommersant.com
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