Putin Threatens Boycott Over Chechen Congress in Denmark

As his country reels from the events surrounding the Moscow theater siege, Russian President Vladimir Putin is threatening to boycott the coming EU summit and a state visit to Denmark in protest over the World Chechen Congress, both of which are being held in Copenhagen.

Denmark, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, will play host to the European Union - Russian summit on November 12th. Putin is due to meet with European leaders at the summit and then meet with Danish leaders and Denmark's Queen Margrethe on the following day.

Both arrangements are now in jeopardy because Copenhagen is also the setting for the World Chechen Congress, which convenes on October 28th.

The congress, organized in association with the Danish Support Committee for Chechnya and the Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, aims to highlight the social and humanitarian situation in the republic and to discuss possible solutions to the conflict.

Russian-Danish relations could be damaged by Congress

In the wake of the bloody siege at the Palace of Culture Theater instigated by Chechen rebels, Moscow believes that allowing the congress to take place will give terrorists an internationally supported mouthpiece and will damage relations between Russia and Denmark.

A statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry received by the Russian Information Authority, RIA Novosti, called the congress "a meeting organized by the propaganda headquarters of Chechen terrorists and their foreign accomplices".

Bilateral visit and Russian-EU summit in jeopardy

RIA Novosti reported that Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Loshchinin had met with Danish Ambassador Lars Vissing in Moscow on Monday and told him: "If supporters of terrorism hold their assemblage in Copenhagen, both the bilateral visit and a Russia-EU summit will become impossible."

According to the Foreign Ministry statement, Loshchinin pointed out to the Danish Ambassador that "this provocative anti-Russian action will entail the most serious consequences for Russian-Danish relations, and will throw them back. In fact, the Danish authorities are expressing their solidarity with the Chechen terrorists. Denmark's position goes against the U.N. Security Council's resolution No.1373."

Danish Foreign Minister Moeller says he cannot interfere

Responding to the news that President Putin and his Russian delegation are taking a hard line over the Chechnya Congress, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller told AP reporters, "I cannot interfere with a conference that is being held on a private initiative."

"The constitutional rights in Denmark mean that everyone can hold all the conferences they want within the limits of the law," the minister said.
However, Moeller added that the organizers should also think carefully about the context in which the congress is held and how the international community may perceive it.

The Russian reaction comes just days after it showed public displeasure over France's failure to prevent a meeting in support of Chechen rebels in Paris on Saturday. Despite strong appeals from Moscow, the French authorities allowed the meeting to take place at the De La Colline theater.