To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with the Russian Government on the killing of journalists. (100884)

My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not had discussions on the killing of journalists with the Russian Government. EU leaders discussed their concerns about the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya with President Putin at the informal heads of EU states meeting in Lahti, on 20 October. Officials raised our concerns about the killing of Anna Politkovskaya with the chair of the Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, on 18 October. Anna Politkovskaya’s murder and wider freedom of expression concerns were discussed with the Russian authorities at the EU-Russia human rights consultations held in Brussels on 8 November 2006.

My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary condemned the murder of Anna Politkovskaya at the launch of the 2006 Annual Report on Human Rights on 12 October. I issued a statement of condemnation about her murder on 9 October, expressing sympathy to her friends and family and calling for the Russian authorities to bring her killers to justice. The full text of the statement is available on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) website at

http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029391629&a=KArticle&aid=1159197496301%20&year-2006&month-2006-10-01&date-2006-10-09.

We regularly discuss the progress of democratic reforms and human rights in Russia with the Russian authorities, including freedom of the media. The 2006 Annual Report on Human Rights sets out some of our major concerns about human rights, democracy and rule of law in Russia. It details a number of occasions when FCO Ministers have raised these issues with the Russian Government over the last 12 months. The report is available on the FCO website at

http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029391629&a=KArticle&aid=1159199142618%20&year=2006&month=2006-10-01&date=2006-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the killing of journalists in Russia has been raised at the Council of Europe. (100885)

The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers discussed the death of Anna Politkovskaya on 25 October 2006. Media freedom, including journalists’ safety, is a recurrent issue considered by the Council. It is an important element in delivering the Council of Europe’s aim of defending human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law.