Russia

Commenting on the report on Russia adopted today in plenary, Green MEP Werner Schulz, Vice-Chair of the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, said:

"The adoption of this report shows that the European Parliament is as clear as ever that any cooperation with the Russian Federation must be conditional on the respect by Russia of democratic standards and compliance with fundamental human rights and the rule of law.

In his recent state of the nation speech, Vladimir Putin lamented the country's so-called moral decline. At the same time a flood of restrictive and immoral laws maintain a stranglehold on civil society. Any hopes that the controversial president could loosen the reins of the "managed democracy" have faded.

The Members of the European Parliament supported my proposal by a large majority and called for immediate release of the detained members of the punk band Pussy Riot. I expect Commission President Barroso and Council President van Rompuy to repeat this demand to President Putin at the upcoming EU-Russia summit.

For years now Russia has been viewed and discussed as an indispensable strategic partner of the EU. But vast natural resources and exports of western technology and consumer goods have not led to any strategic cooperation. Corruption and arbitrary behaviour by the authorities are not consistently opposed, as in the case of the lawyer Magnitsky who dared to uncover a hugely complex network of corruption. Unlike the officials guilty of his death, he is still being persecuted, even posthumously. Visa liberalisation without binding human rights criteria is not acceptable. The European Union should impose an entry ban for all people incriminated in the Magnitsky-Case and should simultaneously facilitate visas for Russian citizens."