The Slovenian Democratic Party has called for the dismissal of the current Russian ambassador, saying that his past “degrades Slovenia’s reputation.”

The opposition Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS – Slovenska Demokratska Stranka), led by the former Prime Minister Janez Janša, has demanded an emergency session of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss the appointment of Doku Zavgayev as ambassador. According to the SDS, he was involved in the war in Chechenya, where human rights were grossly violated.

The SDS thinks that the choice of an ambassador is a reflection of a reputation that one country ascribes to another, meaning that Zavgayev’s appointment degrades Slovenia to the level of countries that do not respect the values of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Janša’s party thinks that Russia has placed Slovenia in an embarrassing position by treating it as a ’’destination for bureaucrats who had specific assignments in their homeland which were completely contrary to democratic standards.“

Let’s remember, Zavgayev was general secretary of the Communist Party in the Chechen-Ingush Republic at SSCB and later he was appointed by Boris Yeltsin as leader of first Russian puppet government in Chechnya during 1995-1996, after Russian invasion at the terrority of Chechen Republic Ichkeria.