"You cannot but wonder what the Council is aware of at all". This is the way Member of the European Parliament Sahra Wagenknecht commented to a REGNUM correspondent on how the Council of the European Union responded to her enquiry about presence of Estonian volunteers in Georgia during the war in South Ossetia.

As REGNUM reported earlier, early September the MP sent an enquiry to the Council of the European Union regarding presence of the so-called Estonian volunteers in Georgia.

To remind, soon after the start of the military confrontation between Georgia and Russia, which was caused by the Georgian attack on the town of Tskhinvali in South Ossetia, there was a call from the Estonian Reserve Officers' Association for volunteers to be recruited for a mission to support Georgia in the war against Russia and also for uniforms to be worn on the mission. "It was announced that the volunteers would be transported in a government plane which was to take humanitarian aid to Tbilisi and fly Estonian citizens out of Georgia. The call came, among others, from Priit Heinsalu, chair of the Estonian Reserve Officers' Association, and Indrek Tarand, former diplomat and now director of the Laidon Museum. Some 50 people answered the call and flew to Tbilisi, although media reports stated that they did not fly in a government plane. The volunteers are said to have included members of the Estonian paramilitary armed forces, the Kaitseliit, as well as Estonian reservists," informed Wagenknecht.

In this connection, she asked the following questions to the Council of the European Union:

1. What does the Council know about this initiative involving Estonian volunteers? Does the Council know whether members of the Estonian armed forces or official Estonian security forces took part in this initiative, and if so, how many? Does the Council know whether any participants in this initiative are still in Georgia?

2. As far as the Council is aware, did any Estonian citizens take part in the fighting between Georgia and Russia?

3. What does the Council think of the fact that the call to take part in this initiative was made by former members of the Estonian armed forces and government?

4. Has this initiative featured in discussions between the Council and the Estonian Government, and if so, what did this involve?

5. Does the Council consider initiatives involving the sending of volunteers from a Member State to a conflict zone to be a suitable way of helping to reach a peaceful solution? If not, what measures has the Council taken in order to prevent such initiatives in the future?

As Sahra Wagenknecht informed the REGNUM correspondent, the response of the Council of the EU was short: " The Council is not aware of the case in question."

"Obviously the Council does not want to comment the whole episode at all. Saying, however, that you are not aware of a topic that was widely discussed in one of the member states during a very critical time sheds a very bizarre light on the work of the Council," believes the European MP.

"After all if you take the answer the way it was put you cannot but wonder what the Council is aware of at all. The way the Council answered the question we asked is analogous to the way the German government responded to a similar question raised on the national level by Sevim Dagdelen, Member of the German Bundestag. The German government also denied having any knowledge. Unrealistic as this answer already is on the national level, it becomes even more absurd on the EU level. In any case the answer apparently is a clear 'No comment' on all levels," says Sahra Wagenwknecht.

As REGNUM reported earlier, on August 14, a group of volunteers from the Estonian Reserve Officers' Association (EROK) arrived in Georgia. Head of the department for foreign relations and European integration of Georgia's Defense Ministry Nino Bakradze told reporters that the volunteers arrived to "take part in defending the sovereignty of Georgia and actions to withdraw the Russian troops." She thanked the Estonian president, the government and the parliament for support. At the same time, the Georgian Defense Ministry insisted that the group of Estonian volunteers had brought humanitarian aid and was helping to hand it out and that it had no other tasks in the Georgian territory. It is worth mentioning, the chair of the Association, Vello Vainsalu, sent in his resignation after the scandal with the group of volunteers being sent to Georgia (before leaving to Georgia they were advised to take uniforms with them).