Thursday, 7 November 2013 - 15:57
Dutch gay letter angers Russia
A letter from Minister Frans Timmermans (Foreign Affairs) to the House on the Dutch asylum policy for Russian lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LHBT's) caused a stir in Russia.In the letter Timmermans answered several questions about asylum for Russian LHBTs.
Jelena Mizoelina, head of the committee for families, women and children in the State Duma, strongly criticized the content Wednesday. The letter states, among other things, the situation of LHBT's in Russia is taken into account in the assessment of applications for asylum.
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Habib M’henni
Wikimedia commons Mizoelina perceives this as an attempt of Timmermans to belittle Russia, and finds the announcement more than strange, according to news agency RIA Novosti. The conservative MP was one of the designers of the controversial Russian law that prohibits gay propaganda in the presence of minors. The rejection came from an unexpected source, the famous Russian gay rights activist Nikolai Alekseev. Even though obviously there are cases where someone should be granted asylum, those cases are so isolated, they say little about the overall picture, according to Alekseev. The Russian Foreign Ministry is reportedly also critical of the letter. Russia is especially displeased with a phrase in which Timmermans linked the progress of talks on visa-free travel between the EU and Russia to gay rights in Russia. It borders on the absurd, reports a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry to the Interfax news agency. Timmermans was asked whether the Netherlands would plead for suspending the negotiations on visa-free travel, since Russia violates human rights. He responded there was room in the negotiations to also look at the human rights situation. Although Timmermans responds to existing policy, the timing is unfortunate. The relations between Russia and the Netherlands are already strained, partly because of the detention of the ship Arctic Sunrise by Russia. Timmermans will accompany King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima to Russia at the end of this week. They will visit the country for the completion of the Netherlands-Russia Year
![[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"26378","attributes":{"class":"media-image size-medium wp-image-7627","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"300","height":"220","alt":"Frans_Timmermans,"}}]]](http://www.nltimes.nl/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Frans_Timmermans.jpg){kind=link}
Habib M’henni
Wikimedia commons Mizoelina perceives this as an attempt of Timmermans to belittle Russia, and finds the announcement more than strange, according to news agency RIA Novosti. The conservative MP was one of the designers of the controversial Russian law that prohibits gay propaganda in the presence of minors. The rejection came from an unexpected source, the famous Russian gay rights activist Nikolai Alekseev. Even though obviously there are cases where someone should be granted asylum, those cases are so isolated, they say little about the overall picture, according to Alekseev. The Russian Foreign Ministry is reportedly also critical of the letter. Russia is especially displeased with a phrase in which Timmermans linked the progress of talks on visa-free travel between the EU and Russia to gay rights in Russia. It borders on the absurd, reports a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry to the Interfax news agency. Timmermans was asked whether the Netherlands would plead for suspending the negotiations on visa-free travel, since Russia violates human rights. He responded there was room in the negotiations to also look at the human rights situation. Although Timmermans responds to existing policy, the timing is unfortunate. The relations between Russia and the Netherlands are already strained, partly because of the detention of the ship Arctic Sunrise by Russia. Timmermans will accompany King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima to Russia at the end of this week. They will visit the country for the completion of the Netherlands-Russia Year