“We made this
decision on the basis of the interests of Russian citizens,” 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, commenting on the statement adopted by the State Duma on the situation
regarding Russian participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He stressed that the decision not to send a delegation to the PACE had
been supported unanimously. It was also decided to suspend payments to the budget
of the Council of Europe in 2019, and Viacheslav Volodin said that the amount
is more than 30 million euro. He recalled that “Russia is one of the key
payers.”
“We had reviewed the situation as a whole in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, during the last year we held consultations with both the PACE leadership and national parliaments, and figured out that the Russian side, represented by members of the State Duma, cannot take part in the Parliamentary Assembly activities without the right to vote,” he explained.
“Considering the fact that the Parliamentary Assembly departed from the principles of democracy, violated the fundamental rules of the parliamentary structure, we have today only one way –to not participate in PACE activities,” the Chairman of the State Duma said, stressing that work at other inter-parliamentary structures will be continued. He indicated the Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries' Parliaments, as well as the Conference on Security and Interregional Cooperation among the new formats of cooperation. Bilateral contacts and cooperation with national parliaments will also be continued. “PACE is not the only organization uniting European countries,” he noted.
The Chairman of the State Duma believes that now there are those people in PACE who are ready to “sow the seeds of conflicts and use this structure as a political tool.” “They have gone too far,” Viacheslav Volodin stated.
“We have said that the PACE Regulations should comply with the Statute of the Council of Europe. The Statute of the Council of Europe includes the principle of equality of 47 member states, but, alas, even the common sense forces have failed to convince the representatives of the Baltic countries, Poland, and Ukraine. And the representatives of the UK are in tight with them. Of course, we see the behind-the-scenes work of the United States of America in it, because it could not take place without their help. The US authorities do not want a united Europe, they don’t want peace in Europe, a European home living by the tasks of creating and resolving economic issues, therefore they constantly inject difficulties and problems,” the Chairman of the State Duma said.
