”This is a big problem for us, because today about 20 million Russian people live in Ukraine, whom your press calls Russian-speaking. We cannot but worry about the threat of physical clashes around Orthodox churches. The possibility of the beginning of a religious conflict in Ukraine, which is increasing every day, obscures the Minsk agreements and all the efforts made before to settle the conflict, including by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin,“ the head of the State Duma delegation said.
During the bilateral meeting, the issue of Russia's membership in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) was also discussed. The head of the German delegation, Johann Wadephul, believes that Russia should retain its membership in PACE, and all topical issues of international politics should be discussed with Russia.
“We are grateful for the efforts of the German and other European parliamentarians to normalize the situation. However we will not participate in an organization where our country
does not have the same position as others, we cannot afford it,” said Petr
Tolstoy
Petr Olegovich
.
At the same time, cooperation with the parliaments of the PACE member nations will continue at the bilateral level, which, in the opinion of the parliamentarians of both countries, can become an effective tool of cooperation. In particular, they talked about the creation and further work of the bilateral High-level Inter-parliamentary Commission, which is supervised by Vice-President of the Bundestag Thomas Oppermann.
