COLOMBO, June 15, 2011

Rajapaksa visits Russia to bolster ties

R. K. Radhakrishnan

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa left for Russia on Wednesday to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum to which Sri Lanka has been invited as an observer.

The forum, held annually with the support and participation of the Russian President, brings together politicians, corporate heads and economic experts to outline their approach on key issues affecting the global economy. Apart from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the other heads of nations who are expected to participate include Chinese President Hu Jintao, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Finnish President Tarja Halonen and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, according to the official website of the forum.

Mr. Rajapaksa’s three-day visit will further cement Sri Lanka’s fledgling relationship with Russia, which was shifted to a higher plane by Russia’s support to Sri Lanka after the release of the United Nations Panel of Experts Report on Accountability. The U.N. had held the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE responsible for the killing of civilians in the last stages of the conflict. Sri Lanka has rejected the report.

“Sri Lanka and Russia can be proud of a great friendship,” said Presidential Media Division Director-General Bandula Jayasekara, who is also part of the entourage. Though an observer, Sri Lanka will use the presence of its President to showcase the island nation as a stable region of high growth.

The Sri Lankan delegation is also expected to meet other delegations on the sidelines to clarify on recent events in Sri Lanka, including the U.N. report.

Documentary

In fact, Sri Lanka has been on an overdrive in international fora as it battles challenges on multiple fronts, especially over the conduct of Eelam War IV with the LTTE between 2006 and 2009.

The latest in the series of challenges is the U.K.-based Channel 4 documentary, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, which was shown to members of the United Nations Human Rights Council in May. It was aired on June 14 in the U.K.

In a release, the Sri Lankan government denied it had deliberately targeted its own civilians, as the Channel 4 documentary alleges.

“The Government of Sri Lanka is concerned about the distress the images in the Channel 4 film aired without any guarantee of their authenticity might have caused to the viewers, particularly to those belonging to different communities in Sri Lanka. This is an exercise which is carried out by a small section of international media at the behest of certain parties with vested interests and it caters only to the interests of separatist forces living outside Sri Lanka, the final objective of which is to push Sri Lanka back to war, by way of lacerating the wounds that the country is attempting to heal. The Channel 4 film has the potential to incite hatred amongst different communities in Sri Lanka, including future generations, and thereby, adversely affect the ongoing national reconciliation process,” said the government.