DUMA BREACHES OBLIGATION TO COUNCIL OF EUROPE ON MOLDOVA.

By a vote of 301 in favor and 4 against, the Russian Duma adopted February 9 a resolution reaffirming that Russia’s Operational Group of Forces in Moldova plays a "stabilizing role" and urging the Russian government to keep those troops in the region and to give them adequate financial support. The resolution further recommended that the Russian president and government establish a Russian consulate in the "Dniester republic" and to ensure the latter’s participation in any international talks on the settlement of the conflict "as an obligatory condition of Russia’s participation in such talks." Ultranationalist Sergei Baburin (People’s Power) and Communist deputies initiated the resolution, which passed without opposition. (12)

On January 25, the Duma delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) accepted a set of 26 obligations in connection with Russia’s admission to the Council. Among those requirements was the ratification within six months of the Russian-Moldovan agreement on troop withdrawal and the completion of that withdrawal within the three-year period stipulated by the agreement. Senior Moldovan officials present at the PACE session were shocked to hear their Russian colleagues dismissing that obligation immediately after the Council’s vote to admit Russia. The vote in Moscow last week confirms that the Duma has no intention of meeting the requirement.

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