European Parliament
Tunne Kelam  (PPE ). -
Mr President, Russia is still unfortunately declining to join the UN resolution about Syria and in fact is continuing to deliver arms to the Syrian regime.
As for the elections on 4 March, in the eyes of the governing elite the result has obviously been decided, in so far as Mr Medvedev’s interlude will soon be over. In the view of foreign observers there is no real chance for credible decision-making, because the December elections were assessed as neither fair nor free. The convergence of the state and the governing elite has resulted in massive rigging and manipulations. Sergei Kolesnikov, Putin’s former ally, told us in December that Putin will stop at nothing to retain power.
There remains the question of the behaviour of the Russian voters. Here a real change has been taking place since December: a change of attitudes, mentality and hopes. Anna Politkovskaya’s warning more than six years ago of limitless political apathy among Russian voters has finally been heeded, and the result has been massive interest in monitoring and participation.
The EU now has a unique chance to influence the situation in a positive way, and I think the best way to do this is to follow the suggestions in Sir Graham Watson’s report, to be adopted tomorrow, about consistency towards authoritarian regimes.

