Visit of the Presidential Committee to Russia to discuss the implementation of Assembly Resolution 1633 (2008) on “the consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia”
Addendum to the report
| Doc. 11793 Addendum III
| 26 January 2009
1. Following the adoption of Assembly
Resolution 1633 (2008) on
“The consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia”, the Bureau
of the Assembly, at its meeting on 3 October 2008, decided to place
on the agenda of the Standing Committee meeting in Madrid, on 27
November 2008, an item on “the follow-up given to
Resolution 1633 (2008)”
and to include in the preliminary draft agenda of the Assembly ‘s
January 2009 part-session a report on the implementation of Assembly
Resolution 1633 (2008).
The Monitoring Committee was seized on this matter for report and
the Political Affairs Committee and the Committee on Legal Affairs
and Human Rights for opinion. The Bureau also asked the Committee
on Migration, Refugees and Population to prepare a report on the
“humanitarian consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia”
which could also be debated during the January 2009 part-session.
In addition, the Bureau decided to instruct the Presidential Committee
to visit Tbilisi and Moscow to discuss with the authorities, at
the highest level, the implementation of Assembly
Resolution 1633 (2008) and
to report back to the Standing Committee on the follow-up given
to this resolution.
2. The visit to Tbilisi took place from 30 to 31 October 2008.
The findings of the Presidential Committee following this visit
are contained in my memorandum to the Bureau of the Assembly of
14 November 2008 (AS/Bur (2008) 81). The visit of the Presidential
Committee to Russia was foreseen to take place on 13 and 14 November
2008. However, these dates coincided with the EU-Russia Summit in
Nice. Many of the high-level meetings requested therefore could
not take place, resulting in a programme that would not meet the requirements
set by the Bureau for this visit. It was therefore decided to postpone
the visit to Moscow to 18 to 20 January 2009.
3. During the visit to Moscow, from 18 to 20 January 2009, the
Presidential Committee met with the Speaker of the State Duma, Mr Boris
Gryzlov; the Chairman of the Council of Federation, Mr Sergey Mironov; the
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Sergey Lavrov; the Deputy Secretary
of the Security Council, Mr Yury Zubakov; the Ombudsman of the Russian
Federation, Mr Vladimir Lukin; the Deputy Chief of General Staff
of the Ministry of Defence, Mr Anatoly Nogovitsyn; as well Mr Konstantin
Kosachev, Chairman, and members of the Russian Delegation to the
Assembly.
4. At the end of the visit, I made a statement in which I welcomed
the frank discussions with the Russian authorities and their willingness
to engage in a constructive and open dialogue with the Assembly.
The text of my statement is attached to this memorandum.
5. In the view of the Russian authorities,
Resolution 1633 (2008), adopted
by the Assembly in October 2008, is strongly biased against Russia
and fails to take into account the Russian position of the events
in August. The Minister for Foreign Affairs informed us that the
Russian authorities therefore were not inclined to implement its
recommendations and demands. I stressed that, in our view,
Resolution 1633 (2008) provides
a fully transparent, impartial and concrete roadmap to address the
consequences of the war, not only for the parties concerned, but
also for the Assembly itself. I therefore expressed my regret that,
as a result of the Russian position, very few demands of the Assembly
have been met by the Russian authorities.
6. The Russian authorities reiterated their position that they
will not reconsider their recognition of the independence of Abkhazia
and South Ossetia. I expressed my view that the issue of the status
of these two regions, and the Russian recognition of their independence,
would continue to be a point of strong disagreement with the Assembly,
but stressed that the issue of the status should not be used as
an argument for Russia not to address other Assembly concerns raised
in
Resolution 1633 (2008),
most notably those related to the short- and long-term stability
along the administrative borders with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the
respect of human rights for all Georgian citizens and the humanitarian
consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia.
7. The Russian authorities expressed their concern that tension
and provocations along the administrative borders between Georgia
and the break-away regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia are increasing,
and that future hostilities between Russia and Georgia cannot be
excluded. Without entering in a discussion on who is to blame for
these increased tensions and provocations, I noted that the Presidential
Committee had already expressed its concern about the increased
tension and provocations along the administrative borders after their
visit to Tbilisi. In the Committee’s view, this underscored the
Assembly’s position that the continued presence of international
monitors, with full and unrestricted access to all areas of the
former conflict zone, is clearly needed, and that a new, internationalised
format for the peacekeeping force should be established. In this
respect, I expressed our regret about the effective veto of Russia
of the extension of the mandate of the OSCE Mission in Georgia,
as a result of the question of the status of the two break-away
regions. In reply, the Russian authorities reiterated their position
that the access of international organisations to, and their presence in,
South Ossetia and Abkhazia are a matter for the de facto authorities
and not for Russia to decide upon.
8. In relation to the precise circumstances surrounding the outbreak
of the war, as well as the exact sequence of events in August 2008,
I expressed my satisfaction that, in line with recommendations of
the Assembly in this respect, the European Union has decided to
establish an independent fact-finding mission on the conflict in
Georgia to investigate the origins and the course of the conflict,
and expressed my view that the Assembly should return to this question
when the report and findings of this mission have been presented.
9. The Russian authorities informed us that the General Prosecutor
had finalised his investigation into the deaths of 162 South Ossetian
civilians and 48 Russian military personnel during the war, and
had collected sufficient evidence to bring charges against Georgia
of genocide against South Ossetians. In addition, the Deputy Chief
of General Staff informed us that the Military prosecutors had concluded
that no human rights violations or war crimes had been committed
by the Russian military. In the light of credible reports containing overwhelming
evidence that both sides committed violations of human rights and
international humanitarian law during the war, I hope that further
investigations into this matter will be conducted by the Russian authorities.
Furthermore, I regret that we received no indications of any concrete
investigations into, and action against, the human rights violations
committed against ethnic Georgians in the course and aftermath of
the war.
10. During our discussions with the Russian authorities, the Presidential
Committee stressed that it is unacceptable that persons residing
in Abkhazia and South Ossetia should not be effectively covered
by the human rights protection mechanisms granted to them as citizens
of a Council of Europe member state under the European Convention
of Human Rights, as well as other relevant Council of Europe Conventions,
as a result of the consequences of the war between Russia and Georgia.
In our view, such a human rights protection black hole should not
be allowed to exist within the Council of Europe area. We therefore
suggested that the relevant bodies of the Council of Europe should
develop a comprehensive action plan to ensure that the rights guaranteed
under the Convention are effectively secured for persons residing
in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. This could include the establishment
of a field presence in the two break-away regions, as demanded by
the Assembly in
Resolution
1633 (2008). In the absence of other credible investigations,
this field presence should also investigate and document human rights
violations committed during and in the aftermath of the war. I noted
with satisfaction that the Russian authorities, in principle, did
not reject such a possibility.
11. The Russian parliamentary delegation expressly stressed their
readiness to engage in a dialogue with their Georgian counterparts
under the aegis of the Assembly, and highlighted the role the Assembly
could play in this respect. In my opinion, this is a positive element
that should be discussed during the forthcoming part-session of
the Assembly, in Strasbourg.
12. At the end of our visit, I welcomed the willingness of all
Russian authorities to engage in a constructive and open dialogue
with the Assembly, as was evident during our visit. I expressed
my hope that this approach will lead to a renewed dialogue on the
compliance of Russia with the demands made by the Assembly in
Resolution 1633,
as well as on the results of the upcoming debate at the January
part-session of the Assembly.
