Russia 111215 Basic Political Developments

Summit all-up: Much to cover at Russia-EU talks

http://rt.com/news/summit-eu-russia-visa-859/
Published: 15 December, 2011, 10:54
Edited: 15 December, 2011, 10:54

Russian and EU officials have gathered in Brussels, where the 28th Russia-EU summit is kicking off. European debt, along with Moscow joining the WTO and steps towards a visa-free regime between the two sides are the main issues on the agenda.

The meeting is to open on Thursday morning with a working session that will be followed by a working breakfast.

"The meeting will be absolutely pragmatic in nature," Russian presidential aide Sergey Prikhodko previously stated.

Speaking at the briefing ahead the summit, he outlined the main topics of the bilateral negotiations, saying that “the most important” are “the global economy and global governance, Russia-European relations, as well as international and regional issues.”

The EU and Russian sides are expected to continue the dialog on easing visa restrictions of travel between Russia and EU countries. It is expected that the document will be signed outlining the basic conditions and possibly at the end of the year there may be a final resolution ion the topic. Right now, the document is undergoing its final fine-tuning, and there are hopes that the summit will give the green light for its implementation.

On the eve of the summit, diplomatic efforts to break down the bureaucratic walls got a major boost, as Moscow and Warsaw signed an intergovernmental agreement. That is anticipated to be the first step in creating a visa-free regime with the entire EU.

The summit's agenda will include energy issues, including differences on the third energy package. This is the legislation that aims to liberalize the energy sector in the EU.

What the European Union wants is essentially the unbundling of services such as transport and delivery, essentially separated between the owner and the operator of the pipeline. This has become a point of contention, because Russia’s gas giant Gazprom is currently in charge of production and transport delivery – essentially all of the activities involving gas delivery. Ways may be discussed as to how to make the market more liberal, at the same time being flexible enough to accommodate Russian interests.

With regard to trade and business, Russia’s accession to the WTO, 18 years after applying, is also one of the main topics.

Russia hopes that this step will launch a positive “chain reaction” in relations with the European Union.

And in relation to the eurozone issues, there will be discussions on Russia’s role and potentially helping out eurozone nations though the IMF rather than the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF).

“We are exclusively interested in joint and solidarity efforts by the EU countries that could help them overcome those complex and ambiguous processes that are threatening the stability of the euro area, at least its financial stability, and could affect the scope and nature of cooperation with Russia,” Prikhodko said.

Russia-EU negotiations will also touch upon the issues of Iran’s nuclear program, the situation in Libya, Egypt and Syria and also human rights.

Russian election protests “came from within” - Clinton

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20111215/170256595.html
05:29 15/12/2011

WASHINGTON, December 15 (RIA Novosti)

Russian election protests did not come from the outside, U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday in her first public response to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s accusations of interfering in Russia’s domestic affairs.

The U.S. Administration, including Clinton, earlier voiced concern over irregularities reported by international observers at the December 4 parliamentary elections in Russia. Clinton said the polls were neither free nor fair. Russia rejected the accusations.

“This was not about the United States. This was about the people of Russia,” Clinton told the PBS television network.

“Russia has one of the most highly educated populations in the world, and now a growing middle class with all the aspirations that middle class families have. And so this didn’t come from the outside; it came from within,” she said.

The ruling United Russia party won the Russia’s State Duma elections, gaining about 50 percent of the vote. Tens of thousands went to the streets to protest the vote results, which they say were rigged.

Independent observers and critics claimed the vote was slanted in favor of United Russia and cited incidents of ballot stuffing, but the authorities said the elections were fair and irregularities were minor, pledging to investigate all violations.

“Independent observers had reached the conclusion that there was unfortunately a lot of interference, manipulation of the election,” Clinton told PBS.

She said one of the United States’ strongest values is “protection and advocacy for human rights, and in particular, our support for democracy and the recognition that although elections are not by any means the only definition of democracy, they are a kind of condition that has to be satisfied to go forward.”

“We’re always looking at how we can communicate clearly what the United States stands for, and in this case, what the Russian people deserve,” she said.

U.S. administration to establish new fund to support Russian NGOs

http://en.rian.ru/society/20111215/170257975.html
07:56 15/12/2011

WASHINGTON, December 15 (RIA Novosti)

The U.S. administration is in talks with Congress on the establishment of a new organization supporting NGOs in Russia, Philip Gordon, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, said on Wednesday.

“As part of our democracy strategy, the administration has been consulting with Congress on an initiative to create a new fund to support Russian non-governmental organizations that are committed to a more pluralistic and open society,” Gordon said.

“The fund would not require an additional appropriation, as necessary funding would be drawn from the liquidated proceeds of the U.S.-Russia Investment Fund - an example of successful U.S. foreign assistance to Russia,” he said at a meeting of a subcommittee in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Gordon said the United States provides financial support to Russian civil society.

“Since 2009, the U.S. government has given approximately $160 million in assistance to support programs on human rights, rule of law, anti-corruption, civil society, independent media, good governance, and democratic political processes,” he said.

“Most recently, U.S. funding was used to support independent Russian monitoring of the [State] Duma elections and education for independent media on professional and unbiased reporting, encourage informed citizen participation in elections, and enhance the capacity to conduct public opinion polling,” Gordon said.

On December 8, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed toughening responsibility for those who interfere in Russian political life on foreign orders.

“When money from abroad is invested in political activities inside another country, this concerns us,” he said, adding that “hundreds of millions of dollars” of foreign money have been spent to influence the election process in Russia.

“We are not against foreign observers monitoring out election process,” Putin said. “But when they begin motivating some organizations inside the country which claim to be domestic but in fact are funded from abroad… this is unacceptable.”

The ruling United Russia party won the Russia’s December 4 parliamentary elections, gaining about 50 percent of the vote. Tens of thousands of people went to the streets to protest the vote results, which they say were rigged.

Independent observers and critics claimed the vote was slanted in favor of United Russia and cited incidents of ballot stuffing, but the authorities said the elections were fair and irregularities were minor, pledging to investigate all violations.