The Council of Europe is willing to forward its observers to an upcoming pre-term presidential election in Chechnya-but not before a due invitation comes from Russian authorities, and safety guarantees are made. The CE decision will also depend on pre-election developments and presidential candidates, said Mr. Schwimmer.
His interview also concerned Council of Europe stances on ethnic Russians' situation in the post-Soviet Baltics. The situation alarms the CE, he said. The matter demands thorough coordination and promotion of a balanced majority-minority dialogue. The Council of Europe is willing to do all it can for the cause-in particular, provide its experts.
While in Strasbourg, Salome Zurabishvili, Georgia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, gave Mr. Schwimmer all necessary explanations concerning a controversial statement Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili had made in the Council of Europe's address.
He knows the President's pronouncements from the press alone, and does not think its reports base on hard facts, pointed out our interviewee.
As things really were, President Saakashvili was not all that harsh on the CE, reassured the Foreign Minister.
The CE proceeds in its activities related to Georgia and Adzharia, its recalcitrant autonomy, from respect of human rights in both. "I did contact Adzhar spokesmen-but then, I was informing Georgia about it," remarked Walter Schwimmer. He stressed the CE's profound interest in the conflict settled by peaceful means.
Proceedings have taken start to expel from Georgia Plamen Nikolov, Council of Europe envoy, President Saakashvili announced last week. The Georgian top accuses the envoy of misrepresenting on the CE top a conflict which cost Aslan Abashidze his office-the Adzhar leader resigned in a thunderbolt, and fled to Russia.
President Saakashvili came down on Walter Schwimmer for a "vague stance" on Adzharia. Mr. Schwimmer thinks either party was to blame for the clash. "Groundless and out of place," the Georgian president described his position, and went on to say that the CE Secretary General was "turning a blind eye on Abashidze's unlawful moves".
The Council of Europe is closely monitoring developments related to the Yukos petroleum mammoth, Walter Schwimmer went on. The affair deserves every possible attention. That was why the CE has appointed a speaker on the issue. Sabina Leuthauser-Schnarrenberger, recently Germany's federal Justice Minister, received the appointment from the PACE Bureau, March 1, and it was confirmed, March 15.
Her upcoming visit to Moscow aims to clear the matter. Sabina Leuthauser-Schnarrenberger is after firsthand information instead of rumours and media accounts. It is not her, or anyone else's point to argue Russian judicial decisions-but Russia, too, will certainly gain from opinion exchanges on the controversy, stressed Walter Schwimmer.
Sabina Leuthauser-Schnarrenberger is expected in Moscow next week, the CE press service said to Novosti. She will meet spokesmen of the Prosecutor General's office, the Federal Security Service-FSB, the Justice Ministry and rights organisations.
