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Chechnya At Center Of European Security Meeting Failure In Row With Russia
by Michael Thurston
VIENNA (AFP) - A meeting of the OSCE European security body ended in failure Tuesday as Western ministers accused Russia of not keeping pledges to bring peace to the troubled Caucasus.
Foreign ministers of the 55-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) failed to agree on a joint declaration due to disputes with Russia over the wording, notably on Chechnya.
"Although we have been negotiating through the night, it was not possible ... to find a consensus on the regional issues," said Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner of Austria, the current OSCE chairwoman.
The unusual failure of the OSCE to agree on a final declaration to its meeting is the biggest dispute between the West and Moscow in an international forum since Vladimir Putin's election as Russian president in March.
In place of the traditional joint declaration, Ferrero-Waldner read out a non-consensus statement, which condemned continued bloodshed in Chechnya, while also rapping Moscow over disputes in Georgia and Moldova.
The OSCE works on a consensus basis, under which all parties have to agree to every word of declarations, usually resulting in watered-down language. But it is rare for no final declaration to be issued.
Ferrero-Waldner's statement - which was immediately disavowed by Moscow's envoy to the meeting - pulled few punches.
On Chechnya, she bluntly called for a prompt and independent probe into all alleged atrocities against civilians and other rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law.
"The continued loss of life and material damage inflicted upon the Chechen population was deplored," she said at the end of the two-day OSCE meeting in Vienna.
She also rapped Moscow over its failure to keep pledges made at an OSCE summit in Istanbul a year ago to allow the return of the OSCE's Assistance Group to Chechnya, which it left due to mounting violence.
Russia had been widely attacked on the first day of the OSCE meeting Monday by leaders including U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who described lack of progress over Chechnya as "tragic."
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who only attended the first day of the meeting, countered that it would not take lessons from "magisterial teachers" in the West on how to run its internal affairs.
On Tuesday, Ferrero-Waldner reiterated the criticism, saying it "was noted with growing concern that the withdrawal of Russian forces from the territory of Moldova had made no progress in the last year.
"The Russian federation was urged to comply fully with the timelines stipulated by the Istanbul summit decisions," she said.
Ferrero-Waldner also expressed puzzlement at Russia's refusal to agree on a paragraph in the draft declaration on the rights of children in war zones.
"I fail to understand why the Russian Federation resisted agreement on a widely accepted document that would commit OSCE states to protect children in armed conflicts," she told a press conference.
Russia's envoy to the OSCE meeting stood up immediately after Ferrero-Waldner had stopped speaking, to declare that her address did not reflect the views of the Russian Federation.
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