Merkel Challenges Putin on Human Rights

Relations between Germany and Russia moved into a cooler phase yesterday when Angela Merkel used her inaugural trip to Moscow to raise the previously taboo subject of human rights abuses.

The chancellor said that she had mentioned Germany's "concerns" during her meeting with Russia's president Vladimir Putin about new legislation restricting foreign non-governmental organisations.

Standing next to Mr Putin, Ms Merkel said Germany would wait to see how the "legislation" worked out.

The two leaders had also discussed the war in Chechnya - a subject on which "we haven't always agreed", Ms Merkel said.

A clearly annoyed Mr Putin replied: "It's always pleasant when our internal law-making attracts the attention of our partners."

Ms Merkel's forthright remarks are in glaring contrast to those of her predecessor Gerhard Schröder - who refrained from saying anything critical to Mr Putin, with whom he enjoyed a close personal relationship.

During her six-hour visit to Moscow, Ms Merkel also invited representatives from human rights organisations to a reception at the German embassy - a move unlikely to have delighted the Kremlin. NGOs are concerned that legislation passed by the parliament last month will severely limit their work.

But Mr Putin yesterday claimed that the new bill would not restrict the activities of foreign organisations but would instead make them more "transparent".

He also said that Russia was working "very closely" with the European Union and the US to resolve the growing nuclear crisis in Iran, adding that an offer to allow Iran to enrich uranium on Russian soil was still very much on the table. "We proposed to our Iranian partners to set up a joint enrichment venture on Russian territory... Our partners told us they did not exclude the implementation of our proposal," Mr Putin said.

"It is necessary to work carefully and avoid any erroneous moves," he added.

Klaus Segbers, a professor of East European Studies at Berlin's Free University said that Germany's relationship with Russia was essentially the same despite the change of government last year when Ms Merkel became leader of a "grand coalition". "It's still very close under Frau Merkel. It's the style that's different," he said. "Schröder was critical, but only privately. Merkel is critical in public."

Ms Merkel's fluency in the Russian language and Mr Putin's ability to speak German was also positive, he added.