PACE to consider situation with democracy in Ukraine.

STRASBOURG, October 5 (Itar-Tass) - Conditions of functioning of
democratic institutions in Ukraine will be the central topic for
discussion on the agenda of a PACE session.
Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Russian State Duma Committee for
International Affairs, told Itar-Tass that the discussion on this subject
would be tough.
He said that the recent decision of Ukraine's Constitutional Court to
restore the presidential-parliamentary form of rule in Ukraine had aroused
many questions at PACE.
"At present, the Ukrainian opposition is actively working in the PACE
corridors to influence the minds of its politicians," Kosachev went on to
say. He expressed the hope that after a heated debate, the current edition
of report on democracy in Ukraine won't undergo any significant changes.
"The document is quite balance and on the whole is acceptable for
various political forces," the Russian deputy went on to say.
Besides, the PACE believes that the consolidation of power in the
hands of a new administration shouldn't lead to monopolization of power by
one political force because that would have undermined the country's
democratic development," the Russian deputy went on to say.
The PACE deputies will also consider measures against extremism and
xenophobia in the Council of Europe states.
In the meantime, the Russian-Georgian dossier and the 2008 events in
the Caucasus could once again be raised at the PACE Monitoring Committee.
The deputy head of the Russian delegation at PACE, the first deputy
chairman of the Duma Committee for International Affairs Leonid Slutsky
told Itar-Tass that after the European Union Mission prepared a report on
the consequences of events in South Ossetia and its chairwoman Heidi
Tagliavini delivered a speech at Strasbourg, it became senseless to
prepare additional reports within the dossier. He recalled that initially
the PACE wanted to investigate into the causes of a conflict in Southern
Caucasus that broke out in August 2008 and to determine those who were to
blame for unleashing the military hostilities.
"Tagliavini unambiguously said that Georgia was an aggressor while the
Georgian delegation simply played games with the PACE imposing its
conclusions on it. Many resolutions on this issue were passed under an
emotional impact," Slutsky went on to say.
He assured the PACE that Moscow was not at all deaf to PACE's
constructive criticism. "The Russian delegation is also ready to any
cooperation with the Georgian delegation in Strasbourg, especially in the
humanitarian sphere," the deputy head of the Russian delegation said.
The conflict in Southern Caucasus has constantly been on the PACE
agenda since 2008. PACE has passed more than one resolution where it
invariably claimed that Moscow should recall its recognition of Abkhazia
and South Ossetia. The Russian delegation said that the PACE decisions
couldn't be implemented and that served as a pretext for Georgia to demand
that Moscow be deprived of its powers in Strasbourg. However, the PACE
turned down Georgia's demand.
Heidi Tagliavini, the head of the EU independent commission for the
investigation of the conflict in South Ossetia, delivered a speech at the
spring session in Strasbourg. She put the blame for the war in Southern
Caucasus on Georgia and called on the conflicting sides to overcome its
consequences at the negotiating table.