FOREIGN MINISTRY SNAPS BACK AT EU.

On April 15, the Russian Foreign Ministry responded negatively to this resolution by the European Parliament, terming it a manifestation of “double standards” and “encouragement of terrorism.” The resolution, the ministry said, “questions the sovereign right and obligation of a state to maintain constitutional order in its territory” (Interfax, April 15). On April 19, at a session of the UN Commission on Human Rights held in Geneva, the resolution of the European Parliament was rejected by a vote of 16 to 15, with 22 abstentions. If the resolution had been adopted, then the UN human rights commissioner, Mary Robinson, would have been directed “more actively to occupy herself with the problem of Chechnya” (Presscenter.ru, April 19). The pro-Putin website Strana.ru welcomed the vote in the UN commission as a victory for the Russian president and his policies (Strana.ru, April 19). The Russian human rights organization Memorial, it might be noted, had, by contrast, earlier adopted a position similar to that of the European Parliament, calling upon the UN Human Rights Commission to condemn “massive and brutal violations” in war-torn Chechnya and expressing “profound concern” over the safety of “thousands of people living in the conflict zone in Chechnya and neighboring regions” (Agence France Presse, April 11).