STRASBOURG. April 2 (Interfax-AVN) - Member of a Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Valery Galchenko believes that the PACE will try to soften the Russian position on Iraq using the so-called Chechen issue.
"It is obvious for the Russian delegation that pressure is being imposed on Russia with the help of the "Chechen issue" with the goal to make Russia soften its position on Iraq," Galchenko told Interfax-Military News Agency at the PACE session in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
Members of the Russian delegation are put under pressure, which boils down to the proposal to effect a kind of exchange, he said. According to him, Russia is asked to soften its position on Iraq and the PACE will soften its stance on Chechnya.
In particular, PACE member from Germany Rudolf Bindig proposed establishment an ad hoc tribunal to try war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Chechen Republic similar to the one on former Yugoslavia in the Hague.
Galchenko said the demand is unprecedented, adding that there is no need to establish such a structure, for there is a tested legal mechanism of settling such issues.