ABSTRACT
Chapters 3, 4 and 5 highlight the complexities of transferring European norms related to democracy and human rights to Russia. The progress towards implementation of norms has not been quick or easy in any of the cases, but the norm of a human rights ombudsman has been the most successful case of the three. Despite considerable difficulties, the norm of a human rights ombudsman has been implemented in Russia fairly effectively: there is an ombudsman institution working in Russia, the institution is backed by legal and constitutional guarantees, the office has been relatively effective in dealing with citizens’ complaints and the official discourse has consistently supported the institution albeit the person holding the office has occasionally been discursively attacked. All in all, the official discourse on the institution, its practical functioning and the formal legislative conditions all mainly comply with the European standards and expectations on the issue. This progress would have been unlikely without the European involvement. The European organizations have encouraged and pressured Russia to establish such an institution and offered material help and know-how to help its functioning and institutionalization. There are still many challenges: the institution is easily politicized and in practice it is at least indirectly dependent on the goodwill of the president. Nevertheless, it can be argued that the European organizations have proved fairly effective in supporting and encouraging the implementation of the norm in Russia.
