“Tens of millions of Russian voters are always closely following international events. They are worried about the US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty, the US intention to withdraw from the Agreement on the restriction of medium and short-range missiles, as well as US actions in Syria,” said First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Ivan Melnikov
Ivan Ivanovich
, speaking at the International Conference ‘150th Anniversary of the St. Petersburg’s Declaration Renouncing the Use, in Times of War, of Certain Explosive Projectiles: New Context, Undiminished Relevance“. It takes place in the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg on November 30.
“In presence of the international community, the legal architecture, which ensured world security, is collapsing. In response to the construction of a multipolar world, the ideology of national exclusiveness is becoming more aggressive. It increases the risk of irresponsible decisions and unilateral actions,” continued the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma.
According to Ivan Melnikov, “the whole world sees two pictures, two different approaches. One that belongs to the US led to the destruction of the city of Raqqah and violation of the norms of humanitarian law. Another approach is a political settlement in the province of Idlib on the basis of agreements between Russia, Turkey, and Iran.”
The parliamentarian also noted that “destabilization processes are developing all over the world, dividing lines are deepening, the threshold for the use of force is declining, international disarmament regimes are being destroyed, the culture of the nuclear taboo is weakening, the activity of military biological centers is increasing.”
“Under conditions of these crisis tendencies, it is a duty of parliamentarians to use all the mechanisms of parliamentary diplomacy to reduce conflict potential. We are open to this work,” Ivan Melnikov said.
He reminded that December 12 marks 25 anniversary of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Federal Assembly.
The parliamentarian added that over the past 25 years, massive work has been carried out to harmonize national legislation with international law. He noted the laws ”On Defense“, ”On Martial Law“, ”On the Status of Military Personnel.“
“The last law directly stipulates the duties of military men to comply with generally accepted norms and principles. These provisions are specified in the regulatory framework of law enforcement agencies. In 2015, the Russian Ministry of Defense approved the Manual on Legal Work in the Armed Forces, which enshrined the duty of personnel, first of all, commanders, to know and comply with international humanitarian law while performing combat tasks,” said the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma.
“We are ready to continue this work further, and we advocate for harmonization of national legislations within the framework of parliamentary diplomacy,” added Ivan Melnikov.
In particular, in his opinion, measures are needed for the legal regulation of the use of unmanned systems and robotic warfare, as well as the suppression of cyber-attacks against the population, ensuring the transparency of military-biological programs and regulating the activities of private military campaigns.
“It is necessary to achieve again universal and strict observance of international norms, think about creating effective international parliamentary mechanisms for monitoring of compliance with humanitarian law, and develop tools for objective assessment of violations of its norms. The duty of parliamentarians, as direct representatives of their peoples, is to contribute to the solution of this task, to take an active role in defending against the horrors of war, in strengthening peace and global stability,” Ivan Melnikov concluded.
