Petr Tolstoy: the decision on PACE is the most important event on the foreign policy agenda of the Russian parliament

The decision of the State Duma not to send its delegation to participate in the work of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is perhaps the most important event on the foreign policy agenda of the Russian parliament today. This was stated by the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Petr Tolstoy Tolstoy
Petr Olegovich .

“Our delegation, which consists of the members of the State Duma and the Federation Council, has been cooperating with our fellow parliamentarians, members of the Parliamentary Assembly, which is the oldest European organization, throughout the entire period since 2014. We are discussing this situation and we understand that it is leading the organization to a crisis, and our European colleagues are talking about this. They stress with concern that the five-year absence of Russian parliamentarians actually opened the door to the wave of Russophobia generated by Ukraine, the United Kingdom, a number of Baltic and Scandinavian countries, Poland and other historical “well-wishers” of Russia,” said the parliamentarian.

According to him, in this connection, nothing has changed; today Russia is once again facing a rather complex, on the one hand, and historically understandable decision, on the other hand.

“Russia is not a country that can afford to be humiliated or allow humiliating itself. Russia is not a country to which anyone has the right to teach any lessons. We, I hope, have already experienced this period, short and very bitter, and now we have another task and another era,” said Petr Tolstoy.

The parliamentarian stressed that “taking this into mind a week ago in the State Duma a decision was made to hold comprehensive consultations in order to take a decision on the formation of a parliamentary delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.”

“We held consultations with our colleagues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Together with Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev, we met with the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Mrs. Pasquier, and discussed in great details with her the situation around the participation of the Russian delegation in the Assembly,” said the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma.

“In none of these conversations, or in any of these meetings, unfortunately, there were any arguments in favor of Russia sending its delegation this year to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,” said Petr Tolstoy.

He once again noted that the opinion of all factions coincided on this issue: “We believe that before amending the Regulations of the Parliamentary Assembly, until they are brought in line with the Statute of the Council of Europe, which proclaims the equal rights of all 47 states in this organization, Russia will not return to this Assembly.“

“We do not know whether this will require further steps,” said the parliamentarian. “We know that the next opportunity to resume work in PACE will occur in a year, in January 2020. Let's see how our rapidly changing world will look like by that time.”

“But what will never change is the desire of Russian politicians to protect the interests of their voters and to do it in such a way that the national dignity of the country is in no way questioned,” concluded Tolstoy.