Russia threatens an exception to the Council of Europe

Semyon Mirsky, Paris:

The host of the Liberty Live program Andrey Sharry:

A senior representative of the European Council said today in Moscow that the European Council could suspend Russia's participation in this organization as a result of the war in Chechnya. The Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the British Lord Russell-Johnston said that the organization he represents is "extremely outraged by the ways of waging a war against Chechen rebels, in particular, illegible bombing of cities and villages." Recall that Russia joined the Council of Europe in 1996. The statement of Russell-Johnston is the most sharp, but far from the first warning to Russia since the beginning of the Chechen campaign. From Paris, the correspondent of Radio Liberty Semyon Mirsky reports:

Semyon Mirsky:

The statement of Lord Russell-Johnston was preceded by a number of meetings with representatives of Russian human rights organizations, during which the members of the delegation of the Council of Europe received an alternative, that is, incoming from government sources, information about the Chechen war. Among the Russian interlocutors of a senior European delegation was the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, whose representative named the figures of losses incurred to this day by the Russian armed forces in Chechnya. Official Russian sources argue that during the current campaign in Chechnya 600 troops of the federal troops died, and the Committee of Soldiers' Mother states that the number of dead reaches three thousand people, and the number of wounded is approaching six thousand. As part of the delegation of the Council of Europe on behalf of which the Lord Russell-Johnston spoke, 13 people, and it also includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ireland David Andrews. After the meeting with Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, the delegation intends to make a trip to the conflict zone and visit the existing reports of Chechnya. The Council of Europe is one of the oldest European organizations. It was created in 1949 to promote the ideas of democracy, human rights and international cooperation on the European continent. If the threat contained in the words of Russell-Johnston will really be carried out, then Russia will be outside the Council of Europe, and not having time to really participate in the activities of this organization.