Moscow Wants to Weaken the OECD
Moscow and other member governments have split over the role of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OECD), according to Richard Weitz of World Politics Review. The organization, that seeks to promote the rule of law, human rights, and democratic values recently gave up the observation effort on Russia’s parliamentary elections following heavy restrictions from the authorities.
Moscow is seeking to weaken the OECD’s democracy promotion efforts. In September 2007 Russia and a number of ex-Soviet countries circulated measures, that if adopted, would considerably weaken the OECD’s ability to observe elections. Furthermore Putin recently announced that Russia would create its own organization, the “Institute for Freedom and Democracy in Europe”.
