President Yeltsin yesterday took two dramatic steps on to the centre stage of European political leadership. Breaking Russia's pariah status as an opponent of a ban on anti-personnel landmines, Mr Yeltsin pledged renewed efforts to sign the new anti-mine convention.
In a further move that may have profound long-term consequences for the political centre of gravity of Europe, he agreed to establish a permanent annual meeting between himself, the German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, and President Chirac of France. The first meeting of the heavyweight troika, at Mr Chirac's instigation, will be in Mr Yeltsin's native city of Sverdlovsk.
A British spokesman welcomed the announcement and denied it represented a snub to Britain.
Mr Chirac and Mr Yeltsin were speaking to journalists at the Council of Europe two-day summit in Strasbourg, which brought together the leaders of its 40 member-states representing 800 million people.
Mr Chirac said the annual meeting of the three represented "an important force for Europe and a key ingredient of the cementing of peace". Earlier, in an unscripted appeal at the opening of the summit, Mr Chirac called on all the member-states to sign the ban on landmines.
Russia, along with China and India, also suppliers of cheap antipersonnel mines, was not among the countries which on September 18th pledged at Oslo to sign the "Ottawa protocol".
Meanwhile, the Irish Government is likely to face renewed pressure from human rights organisations to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into law following the announcement at the summit by the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, that his government will shortly publish a bill to do so in Britain.
Ireland will now be the only EU member of the Council of Europe not to have incorporated the ECHR. Although the Republic is a signatory of the convention, the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg have to be enacted by the Government before they can take effect in law.
Mr Blair, confirming an election pledge, promised a white paper on the issue before the end of October and a bill shortly afterwards. He also dramatically reversed Tory policy on the Strasbourg court by welcoming its reform and its strengthening. The last government, in the wake of the Gibraltar and other unfavourable decisions, had sought to weaken its powers by giving member-states greater discretion in their application of the ECHR.
Mr Blair did, however, echo a concern, expressed privately by diplomats from several member states that the calibre of judges appointed to the court by some of the new democracies may leave something to be desired. "It means," he said, "ensuring that the court has the best possible judges, chosen on the basis of merit rather than politics."
Dr Kohl warmly welcomed the commitment of member-states to ban the cloning of human beings. The issue was one of the great moral challenges of the century, he said.
"Looking back to the dark page of our history when barbarity ruled during the Nazi period, Germans take the issue particularly seriously."
Dr Kohl also called on the former Yugoslav states to safeguard the civil rights of all their citizens and particularly their right to return to their homeland.
The final summit declaration reaffirms the commitment of the 40 member-states to the Council of Europe's standard-setting role on human rights and backs a programme of action to take it into the next decade.
The programme is largely an extension of current work, although added impetus will be given to the struggle against drugs and for the protection of children, together with the fight against racism and xenophobia. The organisation will also step up its work against social exclusion.
The summit welcomed the reformed Court of Human Rights and the decision to appoint a commissioner for human rights.
The new court combines the functions of the former commission, which vetted applications to the court, and the court itself. For the first time all member-states will also be required to recognise the right of individual petition to the court, which will now be full-time. It starts work on November 1st next year.
Member-states also undertook to ban cloning of human beings.
