PUTIN'S MOCK REFERENDUM IN CHECHNYA. WILL THE EP BE THE ONLY INSTITUTION TO ENDORSE THIS MACABRE FARCE?

Putin's mock referendum in Chechnya. Will the European Parliament be the only institution to endorse this massacre farce?

Strasbourg, 13 March 2003. According to reliable sources, the Chairman of the ad hoc European Parliament Delegation for Chechnya, Mr Reino Paasalinna (PSE, Finland), is about to accept the invitation from the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Parliament, Mr Dmitri Rogozin, to travel to Chechnya on the occasion of the "constitutional referendum" called and organised by the Moscow authorities.

Statement by Olivier Dupuis, Secretary of the Transnational Radical Party and Member of the European Parliament:

"There is no reason, absolutely no reason, why Mr Paasalinna should accept the invitation to visit Chechnya. By doing so he would merely endorse Putin's plebiscite, and thus the policy of genocide deliberately implemented by the Russian authorities in Chechnya. The position of the European Parliament, often reiterated, is perfectly clear: there can be no solution to the Chechen tragedy other than a political solution based on direct negotiations between the Moscow authorities and the legitimate government of President Maskhadov. Mr Paasalinna should also be well aware that the Russian authorities that are now inviting him so warmly are the same that have continued over the last two years to do everything in their power to prevent the EP delegation from travelling to Chechnya. Finally, Mr Paasalinna cannot ignore the fact that the Assembly of the Council of Europe and the OSCE have turned down the invitation from the Russian authorities. I cannot believe that Mr Paasalinna wants to make the European Parliament the only institution to endorse the macabre farce orchestrated by Mr Putin.

www.radicalparty.org

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Olivier Dupuis
Member of the European Parliament
http://www.radicalparty.org/
tel. +32 2 284 7198
fax +32 2 284 9198