Tuesday, November 27, 2007

US president attacks Russian tactics in putting down anti-Putin demonstrations

: President Saint George W. Shrub criticized Russian government for the manner they broke up weekend election presentations against President Vladimir Putin.

Bush expressed deep concern Monday over the hold of political leaders, including former international cheat title-holder Garry Kasparov, during the weekend in Moscow, St. Petersburg Campaign and two other Russian cities. "The freedoms of expression, assembly and press, as well as owed process, are cardinal to any democratic society," the president said in a statement.

"I am particularly troubled by the usage of military unit by law enforcement government to halt these peaceful activities and to forestall some journalists and human rights militants from covering them," Shrub said. "I am hopeful that the government of Soviet Union will honour its international duties in these areas, look into allegations of maltreatments and free those who stay in detention."

Russian Foreign Curate Sergey Lavrov dismissed the criticism, saying police force had responded properly to "provocations" by dissenters who refused to stay in an country where metropolis authorities had permitted them to demonstrate.

"All democratic states have got laws, and people must stay by them," Lavrov said in Washington, in comments broadcast Tuesday on state-run Vesti-24 television. "I saw nil in the actions of the law enforcement variety meat to bespeak that they exceeded their authority." Today in Americas

Separately, U.S. functionaries vigorously denied Putin's weekend allegations that the United States was to fault for a determination by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe not to supervise approaching Russian elections. Putin had claimed the absence of monitoring devices was intended to assist cast of characters uncertainty on the credibleness of vote that is expected to support Putin's power.

State Department functionaries insisted Putin's allegations were false even though U.S. functionaries did visit the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Person Rights about the Russian voting.

"The Department of State's message was very clear that this was ODIHR'S determination to make," said Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, one of two ranking section functionaries in the deputation to the Vienna-based organization. The other was Undersecretary of State Saint Nicholas Burns.

"At no clip did we directly, indirectly, not through nuance, not through pressure, anything; in no manner did we seek to maneuver them," Fried said. "I said, 'It's not our function to seek to maneuver you.'"

The department's functionary spokesman, Sean McCormack, echoed Fried's remarks, saying "this was a determination entirely for the OSCE."

The OSCE election monitoring business office announced its determination on Nov. Sixteen not to direct an perceiver missionary post to supervise Russia's election because Capital Of The Russian Federation had taken too long to publish visas and had created other obstacles, including restricting the size of the missionary post to 70 people. Far more perceivers would have got been needed, it said.

"This was not about United States, it was not about U.S.-Russia relations; it was about Soviet Union and its elections," Fried told The Associated Press.

Lavrov had a private meeting at the State Department on Monday before a meeting of the so-called Quartet workings to convey an Israeli-Palestinian settlement in the Center East. Soviet Union and the United States are joined in the Four by the European Union and the United Nations.

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