“The dialogue took place, the conversation
started. It is extremely important that it covers issues that are relevant to us,“ Viacheslav Volodin
Vyacheslav Victorovich
The Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the eighth convocation. Elected in single mandate constituency № 163 (Saratov constituency - Saratov Oblast)
said. The Chairman of the State Duma also stated
that it is important ”not to put aside the topics that are resonant and extremely important for us“.
Viacheslav Volodin thanked his American counterparts for their visit to Moscow, noting that ”this meeting is the first one in many years, given that interparliamentary contacts were practically reduced to zero.“
The Chairman of the State Duma emphasized that ”it is extremely important for us to launch a dialogue within the framework of the parliamentary dimension and to eliminate issues that have arisen due to, in many respects, phobias and misunderstandings.“
”We believe that the dialogue should be based on the principles of friendship, the principles of non-interference in the affairs of sovereign states, the absence of double standards and, of course, respect for each other,“ the Chairman of the State Duma concluded.
In his turn, Chairman of the US Congress Committee on Appropriations Richard Shelby drew attention to the fact that the dialogue was ”very long and honest“. ”We haven’t solved all the issues that we face, but at least we communicated,“ he stated.
The journalists also asked the parliamentarians about a visit of Russian parliamentarians to the United States. ”The invitation was made, but we need to talk to the embassy, in order to discuss the [concrete] date of the visit,“ Viacheslav Volodin said. In his turn, Richard Shelby added that ”meetings like this will be useful for our two countries.“
Earlier, a delegation of the US Congress met the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. He noted that “the resumption of the interparliamentary dialogue is very timely in the run-up to the meeting of the two presidents in Helsinki two weeks from now”.
Yesterday the congressmen also met the Governor Georgy Poltavchenko in St. Petersburg. The visit of the delegation from the United States is held prior to the Russian-American summit, which will be held in Helsinki on 16 July.
