Khodorkovsky: Georgia war could bring EU and Russia closer
PHILIPPA RUNNER
22.09.2008 @ 09:45 CET
Russia's invasion of Georgia could be followed by a Kremlin effort to mend ties with the West. But the EU has to pull the Russian elite closer without losing sight of its own values, according to fallen oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovksy.
"It's fashionable to say the 'five day war' and Russia's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is a major blow to Russo-European relations and the prospect of liberalisation in Russia. I'm not convinced," Mr Khodorkovksy said in a rare interview in Le Figaro this weekend. "This crisis could push the Kremlin to take steps to improve relations with the West. If those steps don't undermine Russia's geopolitical position."
Moscow: not necessarily on a collision course with the EU (Photo: wikipedia)
Russia's one-time richest man sent in his statements from a jail cell in Siberia, having spent five years in prison after the break-up of his oil firm, Yukos, over politically-motivated fraud charges.
Mr Khodorkovksy praised France for handling the Georgia crisis with understanding for the "nuances" of Russia's post-imperial problems, urging the EU not to try and dominate Russia but not to lapse into value-free realpolitik either.
"To live on the same continent, to deepen interdependence without sharing the same values is impossible. The only way is the mutual integration of our elites in respect of the basic rules enshrined in our national constitutions and European treaties."
The same "clan" of corrupt bureaucrats and "Brezhnevian" reactionaries which put him in jail remains on top in Russia and the EU should not hold back from criticising the country's faults, the oil-man said.
But the advent of President Medvevev gives new hope for the rule of law as Russia passes from an imperial to a state-building phase, he added.
"There is nothing authoritarian in Russia's genetic code. It's a big country which has to balance centrifugal forces against excessive centralisation. But it's a European country by its spirit and cultural traditions, with an educated people capable of absorbing new experiences."
Partial compliance enough
Mr Khodorkovksy's remarks came as the French EU presidency signaled on Saturday (21 September) that talks on a new EU-Russia strategic treaty can restart in October, following Russia's partial compliance with the Georgia peace accords.
"There are no reasons not to resume talks early next month," French prime minister Francois Fillon said at a press conference with Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin during a trade fair in the Black Sea port of Sochi.
Mr Putin had told Mr Fillon that Russian soldiers will pull back from checkpoints and security buffer zones inside Georgia proper once EU monitors deploy. But he warned that Russia will keep 7,800 soldiers inside Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in violation of the 12 August ceasefire plan which states "Russian armed forces will be pulled back to the line, preceding the start of hostilities."
The head of the new EU monitoring mission to Georgia, German diplomat Hansjoerg Haber, arrived in Tbilisi on Saturday, with a "substantial" part of his 200-strong team to follow this week, AFP reports.
The mission is set to start work on 1 October for an initial period of 12 months. Russia has ruled out letting EU monitors into the rebel enclaves despite EU hopes the mission will spread to cover all of Georgia.
Georgia still hot
The situation in Georgia remains tense, with Abkhazian separatists shooting dead one Georgian policeman and wounding two others on Sunday, Georgia's interior ministry said.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has called for an investigation into alleged torture and execution of Georgian prisoners by South Ossetian militia, as well as alleged beatings of Ossetians in Georgian custody.
The NGO interviewed four Georgian soldiers who had been tortured with hammers and iron rods inside an abandoned school, then made to bury a fifth soldier who had been killed by automatic weapon fire to the back of the head.
"Because the Georgian soldiers were detained in Tskhinvali in South Ossetia, an area over which Russia exercised effective control since 9 August, they should be treated as having fallen into Russia's power," HRW said.