Madam, - Being a dedicated reader of your distinguished newspaper, I treat with great respect your independent stance on a variety of issues. But a string of recent publications on Russia in The Irish Times has forced me to write this letter.
First of all I refer to the diary of Oxana Chelsyeva (Opinion & Analysis,May 2nd). I would not like Irish Times readers to get a wrong impression that the situation with human rights in Russia is as it was depicted here. This is only one side of the coin. The other side is that the Moscow Government did what it could to prevent any possible violence in the course of the events on April 14th in Moscow.
But the ultimate goal of this demonstration was exactly the opposite: to provoke the violence and to make it look like the cruelty of the Russian authorities against so-called anti-Putin protesters. Bear in mind some exclusive snapshots and here we are - one has a very convenient human rights situation. What Ms Chelsyeva did not mention is that one of the groups of protesters represented a an extremist movement called National Bolshevik Party, led by well-known Mr E. Limonov. This party has been banned by law for sponsoring inter-ethnic and inter-religious hatred in our multi-ethnic country.
We have admitted that there might have been some isolated cases of the excessive use of force by the Moscow police department. Nevertheless there were no injuries or casualties on that day. The detainees were released quickly. An investigation has been started and a working group has also been established in the State Duma (parliament) which will be thoroughly studying all these cases and will report back to the government and the voters. The whole process is being monitored by Mr Vladimir Lukin, ombudsman for human rights in Russia. So it is my word against hers. It is up to your readers to decide.
Let's face it, our policy of stable and gradual development is not to everyone's taste. Some, making skilful use of pseudo-democratic rhetoric, would like to return us to the past. We understand that. But one cannot enforce democracy by violating law and order and we do not want this in our country. We also do not need to be lectured from abroad on how to develop democracy in Russia. Besides, the human rights situation could be easily used in terms of double standards.
There is one more thing. We all respect fundamental Christian values, which are so important for the coming generations if we are to remain a civilised society. I was appalled to see a cartoon of Mr Yeltsin in The Irish Timeson the very day of his official funeral and mourning. I have a strong belief that what is permitted for the yellow press does not always suit a respected newspaper like The Irish Timesno matter what your personal attitude to Mr Yeltsin is. - Yours, etc,
MIKHAIL TIMOSHKIN, Ambassador of the Russian Federation, Orwell Road, Dublin 14.