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EESTI ELU reedel, 5. veebruaril 2021 — Friday, February 5, 2021
Nr. 5
CEEC condemns Kremlin’s violent crackdown on peaceful protestors in Russia
English-language supplement to the Estonian weekly “EESTI ELU” Tartu College Publications Founding Chairman: Elmar Tampõld Editor: Laas Leivat 3 Madison Avenue, Toronto, ON M5R 2S2 T: 416-733-4550 • F: 416-733-0944 • E-mail: editor@eestielu.ca Digital: www.eestielu.ca
Russia, sanctions and Navalny Since the foreign ministers of the European Union failed to reach agreement on penaliz ing Russia for its treatment of Alexei Navalny, some obser vers have urged the Baltic states to take the initiative with enforcing sanctions as an example to the rest of Europe. A precedent was established when the Baltic states were the first to level sanctions against Belarus, when Alexander Lukas henko refused to yield power after orchestrating a fraudulent election. According to Baltic foreign policy experts, for them to have maximum effect, the sanctions should be targeted against the Russian business elite and and top officialdom, the friends and decision makers closest to Vladimir Putin. It’s expected that this would cause sufficient financial pain, and complaints to the Kremlin would be shrill and insistent. Punishing midlevel bureaucratic order-takers wouldn’t produce the intended results. It was at the end of 2020 that the European Union affirmed the regulations governing the use of sanctions in reacting to general human rights violations. Many insist that the gross viola tions involving Navalny are more than sufficient to act immediately. The current situation puzzles critics. The EU imposed sanc tions when Navalny was poi soned, and now that he has been arrested, the EU seems to respond with only rhetorical admonishment. Watching the mounting thou sand arrests by Russian police, observers ponder whether finally the worsening economy, the increasing authoritarianism of Putin’s regime, the outright repression of any viable opposi tion and the Kremlin’s overconfident arrogance have finally hit home for the average citi zen. The Russian media were un der orders not to mention Navalny, his poisoning, his medical treatment in Germany etc. In Russia, it was a nonstory. Since his return, arrest and the country-wide protests, Navalny has been vilified in the extreme by all official media. It’s been suggested that Putin has only two choices: suppress the unrest forcefully, or enter into a dialogue with the opposi
tion, release the arrested and find a common ground on how to proceed. The latter is a non-starter for most Western commentators. Among Putin’s closest advisers, some see re duction in social tension as a priority, while others urge a hard-line approach. The latter will likely boost sympathy for Navalny. Putin doesn’t need to fear any meaningful challenge to his hold on power for at least one and a half decades. One is re minded that with legislation passed in 2020, the constitution was amended to allow Putin to theoretically retain power until 2036. However, elections for the Russian Duma are scheduled for this September. The Russian diaspora sup porting Navalny insist on tough personal sanctions against the Kremlin’s inner circle, by travel bans and freezing the assets and property in the West of Russian oligarchs that were gained through corruption, and the ex posure of how this wealth established itself here. Targeted should be the most visibly wealthy, not some second-tier bureaucrat. Hopefully foreign businesses will think twice be fore doing deals with Kremlinconnected entities and their owners. The UK, EU, the US and Canada all have the legisla tive arsenal to levy tough per sonal sanctions demanded by Navalny. These are effective options at their disposal if these countries choose to act. Power ful ‘Magnitsky Acts’ enacted in recent years gave them this choice. The actions taken after Crimea was annexed and Ukraine attacked in 2014, did not in fact elicit the full power of the laws. The sanctions tar geted mid-level intelligence and security service operatives and politicians that had minimal effect. It’s known that prominent Russian oligarchs have Western lawyers, money and wily lobby ists (such as Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign man ager) on their side, working to protect the interests of highranking Russian officials, Krem lin friends and allies. The oligarchs who control most of the investments inside Russia, many of whom have residences in the West, rely on Putin who allows them to
TORONTO – The Central and Eastern European Council in Canada, represent ing the interests of 4.5 million Canadians of Central and Eastern European heritage, strongly condemns the violent widespread crackdown on peaceful protests in Russia, during which thousands of protestors have been detained. The CEEC welcomes the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marc Garneau’s condemnation of Alexey Navalny’s arrest and the expression of concern pub lished by Global Affairs Canada about the safety of Russian pro testors, however, Canada must start taking concrete action to defend global human rights and hold the abusers to account. The nearly 200,000 Russian people who bravely took to streets across Russia, despite freezing temperatures, and the threat of arrest and violence, deserve a free, democratically elected government and an end to the corrupt Putin regime.
activist Alexey Navalny in August 2020, and his incarcera tion on January 18, 2021. We encourage the Canadian government to help lead the creation of a coalition of liberal western democracies along with our allies and the Biden ad ministration to support those who courageously advocate for human rights and hold to account those who violate human rights.
“The Canadian government adopted the Sergei Magnitsky Law in 2018, which allows us to hold officials who engage in human rights abuse and corrup tion to account by placing sanc tions on them,” said CEEC president Marcus Kolga. “This includes the corrupt oligarchs supporting the Putin regime, that Alexey Navalny has asked Western leaders to include on their Magnitsky sanctions lists.”
TORONTO – The Central and Eastern European Council in Canada, represent ing the interests of 4.5 million Canadians of Central and Eastern European heritage, supports the IIHF’s decision to move the 2021 World Hockey Championship tour nament away from Belarus. The CEEC condemns the ongoing violent crackdown on peaceful protestors in Belarus
and the mass electoral fraud committed by the Lukashenka regime in August 2020. Over the past 6 months, thousands of brave Belarusian protestors have been detained, many viciously beaten, tortured and even killed. Regimes that engage in widespread human rights abuses should never be legitimized or their behavior normalized by being allowed to host important international sporting events like the IIHF world champion ships. “As a nation that supports international human rights and holds the sport of hockey as an important part of our national identity, the 4.5 million Cana dians of Central and Eastern European heritage applaud the
IIHF and Hockey Canada, for putting human rights first,” said CEEC President Marcus Kolga. The CEEC urges the Govern ment of Canada to: • Continue calling out and hold the Lukashenka regime to account for its mass repression of protestors, opposition leaders and media; • Work with our allies to apply coordinated Magnitsky sanc tions against corrupt Belarusian officials who have abused the rights of their people beginning with Lidia Yarmoshyna, the head of Belarus’ Central Election Commission; • Work with our allies to sup port Belarusians and civil society groups who seek change, freedom and democracy for their people.
o perate – at a cost – by wield ing the financial clout which helps Putin to hold power. He gives them the protection they need for a cut of their business and their political support. Keeping this symbiosis intact is at the core of any decision Putin makes. Many Navalny supporters see broad-based economic sanctions as punishing ordinary Russians. Thus, restricting tourism to the West and canceling student visas are non-productive. But imposing penalties against prominent Russians who have gained wealth illegally through corruption is quite appropriate and justified.
They see Putin’s political longevity as being guaranteed by those close to him. But, un like Putin, having the West cut off to them for travel, even for a destination to which one may emigrate is unacceptable. Asset freezes and travel bans would be most agonizing and a likely impetus for demanding change. Putin is vulnerable if his kleptocracy, which he has creat ed for his pals and himself, were to be attacked. This cor rupt c oterie and government of ficials, who are interdependent with Putin, have become used to squirreling their money away in Western investments, skiing in the Canadian Rockies, sailing
yachts in the Mediterranean, educating their offspring in elite Swiss schools and shopping in posh London carriage trade stores.
The CEEC calls on the Canadian government to co ordinate sanctions against mem bers of the Putin regime who are responsible for the poison ing of Russian anti-corruption
Central and Eastern European Council in Canada supports IIHF decision to move World Hockey Championships from Belarus
Critics of this sharply fo cused approach in deploying sanctions say that it satisfies the needs of Western leaders, and the public TO DO SOME THING, without necessarily advancing the mission of demo cratic countries in the long term, to build a sustainable, non-confrontational relationship with Russia, even China. But often, short term goals, such as saving someone’s life, take precedence. LAAS LEIVAT
