Elections in Russia

Following the elections to the Russian State Duma on the 4th December, Vladimir Putin's "United Russia" party lost its two-thirds majority in the parliament and around 12 Million of its previous voters. Commenting on the results, Green MEP and member of the foreign affairs committee Werner Schulz said:

"Only a quarter of the population still supports the party. Less and less people are willing to tolerate the pretend democracy of Russia with the Putin-Medvedev tandem. Thousands of Russian voters are gathering on the streets to express their disappointment. The Putin regime seems to be cracking - this is not Putin's "optimal result in difficult times" at all.

At the upcoming EU-Russia Summit in Brussels on 15th December Barroso and Rompuy should put it bluntly that the EU wants Russia not only as a member of the WTO. We also need a democratic and constitutional partner that is supported by its citizens. Otherwise even an ambitious partnership for modernisation will be doomed to failure. Next week a resolution on Russia ahead of the EU-Russia Summit will be adopted in the European Parliament. We hope that this will send a clear message that partnership and cooperation with the EU has to be based on the rule of law and democracy."