Russia: to shoot journalists or to shoot human right activists

MOSCOW – The EU's top executive angered Prime Minister Vladimir Putin while standing next to him at a news conference on Friday by raising concerns about the murders of Russian human rights activists and journalists in Moscow.
Their acrimonious exchange came after meetings intended to improve European Union-Russian relations, badly scarred by the Georgia war and last month's cutoff of Russian natural gas supplies to Europe.
Both Putin and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said their talks were constructive and set a positive tone for negotiations on a long-awaited EU-Russia partnership agreement.
But the atmosphere soured after Barroso mentioned that he had raised the issue of Russia's problems with the rule of law in his meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev earlier Friday.
"I have just now learned that Mr. Barroso discussed the construction of a law-based state with President Medvedev," a visibly irritated Putin told reporters. "Mr. Barroso discussed this in the Kremlin but is talking about it here, at a news conference, where Mr. Medvedev is absent and cannot say anything about this issue."
Putin tried to turn the tables, saying the rights of ethnic Russians, migrants and prisoners are violated in some EU countries.
"We believe we must discuss the whole spectrum of problems, both in Russia and in the countries of the European Union," he said.
Barroso then tackled the matter in more detail, saying he had expressed EU concerns about the fatal shootings on a Moscow street last month of a human rights lawyer and a reporter — the latest killings of Russians who challenge the authorities.
"Human rights and the rule of law are things that are much more important than diplomacy between states," Barroso said in lengthy remarks. "They have to do directly with people, with the rights of citizens, and I think it's a very important element of our common European civilization."
That was too much for Putin.
"Are we going to continue this discussion?" he fumed.
The tension subsided somewhat, but Putin got the last word when he said, with more than a hint of sarcasm, that Russia would welcome frequent visits from "this Magnificent 10" — Barroso and the nine European commissioners he brought with him.
Russia and the EU are linked closely by commerce, but ties have been strained for years by disputes on issues ranging from timber tariffs to the Kremlin's record on human rights. Tensions were driven to a post-Cold War peak by Russia's war with Georgia in August, and the EU suspended talks with Russia on the new partnership deal.
The EU announced in October that it would resume negotiations on the agreement, but no visible progress was made. January's gas cutoff — which left European homes unheated and factories idle because of a price dispute between Russia and Ukraine — deepened EU concerns about its reliance on Russian energy supplies.
The EU gets about a quarter of the gas it uses from Russia.
"We need greater reliability and predictability from this relationship," Barroso told the news conference.
He said the gas drought showed that the new Russia-EU treaty "should enshrine robust rules on energy security."
Russia also wants guarantees against a repeat of the costly cutoff, which it blames on Ukraine, but has clashed with the EU over the format. Moscow has rejected EU pleas to join the Energy Charter, a treaty that would open up its rich gas fields to more foreign participation, and pushed for a new international compact.
"We need to think about forming a full-fledged international legal system to protect against such incidents because the current system — including the Energy Charter — doesn't work," Medvedev told Barroso in a telvised remark.
Both Barroso and Putin made soothing statements about the gas issue. But the argument over human rights underscored the deep tension between the two powers that warily share a continent.
Putin said Russia might be open to a revised Energy Charter, and Barroso said the EU would look at Russia's proposals. In another olive branch, he said that while the EU is seeking alternatives to Russian pipelines that dominate exports from the former Soviet Union, it does not oppose rival Russian pipeline projects.