Russian opposition calls for EU pressure on Moscow ahead of summit

Dec 13, 2011, 18:10 GMT

Strasbourg - A Russian opposition leader called for the European Union to up the pressure on his country's government on Tuesday amid claims that recent parliamentary elections were rigged by the ruling party.

'We would like to follow up with pressure on authorities,' Mikhail Kasyanov said during a visit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, a day before an EU-Russia summit was set to begin.

'In our efforts to achieve the goals of making Russia more democratic, support of friends in Europe is absolutely crucial,' he added.

During a later debate with EU lawmakers, the bloc's foreign policy chief said the elections would be one of the subjects discussed at the summit, noting concerns about the exclusion of opposition parties, the lack of media freedom and the detention of protesters.

'The EU is not a bystander,' Catherine Ashton said.

She also noted that the situation in Syria would 'no doubt' be discussed too at the two-day event, which is set to get underway on Wednesday with a dinner.

Russia, along with China, has been blocking United Nations action against Syria. On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the Syrian opposition of being at fault for putting their supporters' lives at risk.

The summit's agenda is to additionally feature talks about potential easier access to EU visas for Russians and conflicts in Russia's neighbourhood, Ashton said.

Read more about Russia