Moscow, September 3 (Interfax) - The head of the EU parliament subcommittee on human rights, Heidi Hautala, said she was shocked by warnings by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that Russian authorities might use tough measures against rallies that have not been officially permitted.
Hautala, who was speaking in a program on Moscow’s Ekho Moskvy radio on Friday, described Putin’s words as a direct appeal for violence against peaceful demonstrators.
She also said she had personally seen police use force against participants in a rally in central Moscow on Tuesday. However, she hailed the fact that, according to her estimate, at least 1,000 people had been at the rally, held on Triumfalnaya Square, despite numerous warnings of reprisals and threats of use of force by police.
At the same time, Hautala argued that Russian human rights problems are for Russia itself to solve, that democracy cannot be imported and that increasing numbers of people realize this, but that the European Parliament should support human rights movements in Russia.
She said she would urge the European Union to change its Russian strategy but she did not elaborate.
