EU fail to raise former Russian spy's death with Putin
Coming on the eve of an EU-Russia summit, the suspicious death of an ex-Russian spy in London might have been expected to fuel animated discussions on Moscow’s human rights record between Western leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But in six hours of talks, Alexander Litvinenko’s death went unmentioned.
It’s an indication of how the EU’s energy dependence on oil- and gas-rich Russia has been preventing the bloc from applying pressure on Putin to respect basic freedoms.
At a press conference after today’s meeting, Putin said the death was a tragedy, extended his condolences to Litvinenko’s family – but denied any role in the death.
“There is no ground for speculations of this kind,” said Putin.
When asked if Litvinenko’s death came up in talks, a Russian official replied: “Not a single word was said.” EU officials corroborated that.
The meeting’s primary focus was on energy and West Europe’s frantic bid to get Russia to commit to market rules and give foreign energy companies and investors access to his nation’s vast energy sources. Politely, Putin said ’no’ to that, saying Russia was not ready for that.
That left the EU in a deep dilemma over how to secure long-term access to affordable supplies of Russian oil and gas at a time when global consumption of energy is set to increase by over 50 percent in the next 25 years.
In that context human rights are bound to take a back seat – a point the EU made in a different context this week.
Four days before the EU-Russia meeting, Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign and security affairs chief, told an international energy conference in Brussels, Belgium, that the global “scramble for energy risks being pretty unprincipled.”
Human rights organisations are outraged by the EU’s approach to Russian human rights.
“The EU must press President Putin to show that he is ready to address these problems and implement change. This is a crucial step at a time when the EU is deepening its engagement with the Russian Federation,” Amnesty International said in a statement before the summit.
According to the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights the EU risks becoming “complicit in the deterioration of the human rights situation” in Russia unless it speaks up.
Putin admitted the October killing of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya - whose death Litvinenko had been investigating – and other high-profile murders in Russia were cause for concern, but said political murders also occur in the EU.
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