Human Rights Standards Are Much Lower in Belarus than in Russia

The summer session of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly ended last week. Russia was the chairman of the assembly for the first time at that session.

Answering the question by the Kommersant newspaper -- The CE plans to continue its dialog with Belarusian authorities. But how can you invite Belarusian authorities to visit if the majority of them are on the blacklist and aren't allowed into Europe? -- Council of Europe General Secretary Terry Davis said:
- We will carry on that dialog in Minsk. The Belarusians claim that they are ready for negotiations. We have had similar dialogs before, a CE representative was in Minsk and representatives of the Belarusian opposition have been in Strasbourg. That went on for two for three years, but I have to say that the results were disappointing. And I have to note regretfully that standards and norms of human rights and basic freedoms are much lower in Belarus than in Russia.
Source: www.commersant.com