Russia, OSCE talk money & peace
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Tuesday, 18 October 2005
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Euro-reporters.com - Brussels, Belgium
Written by Brussels journalist David Ferguson
Tuesday, 18 October 2005
"We have made significant progress on reforming the OSCE this year and we need to bring this process further before the Ministerial Council in Ljubljana this December," said OSCE Chairperson Dimitrij Rupel. Rupel, who is also Slovenia's Foreign Minister, was in Moscow yesterday to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
In the Russian capital, the OSCE boss stressed peace, democracy and reform: "We need to re-double our efforts to bring sustainable peace to parts of the OSCE area like Transdniestria and South Ossetia that have been a source of instability for some time," said Rupel. "This, along with reform, will remain a high priority for Slovenia's Chairmanship until the end of the year."
Russia, though, talked money. The Kremlin earlier this year heaped on the pressure by withholding payments to the OSCE's ??168 million budget. The financial spat with Moscow was not just about money, but also the 30-year old OSCE redefining itself as a democratic quality assurance authority.
OSCE election monitoring in Georgia, Ukraine, and now Azerbaijan, as well as complaints about rigged Belarus polls, are seen by the Kremlin as allowing pro-Western opposition parties sweep to power following rigged elections.
Whilst professing support for Rupel's OSCE reform, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov also bluntly told the Slovenian to examine how to improve on the OSCE's financial base. "Both the United Nations and OSCE are constituted by the member countries. That is why it is so important for all countries to understand how the OSCE works on this basis," Lavrov explained to journalists.
Also discussed was the situation in the Russian-backed region of South Ossetia, Georgia. Transdniestria, another Russian-backed region in Moldova, was also on the table. Rupel is in Moldova's capital Chisinau, and the Transdniestrian center Tirasapol on 18 October. Tomorrow, Rupel visits Kiev.
Diplomats are now talking about negotiations on Transdniestria starting again at the end of October with new dynamic provided by the involvement of the EU and United States as observers as well as Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenk'speace plan.
Another impulse for negotiations, especially for the Transdniestrian authorities, has been the start of an EU-supported border control mission that will adversely effect Transdniestria's illicit revenues as well as those of the ruling Smirnov elite.
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