Petr Tolstoy met with the delegation of the Parliament of Ireland
During the meeting, parties discussed the development of bilateral cooperation and the dispelling of myths about Russia in the context of anti-Russian sentiments in Europe
The Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, Petr Tolstoy
Petr Olegovich
, met with the delegation of the Irish Parliament, headed by the coordinator of the parliamentary friendship group ”Ireland-Russia“ Fergus O'Dowd. During the meeting, they discussed the development of bilateral cooperation and the dispelling of myths about Russia in the context of anti-Russian sentiments in Europe.
“Russia continues to pursue a direct and open dialogue with its partners on all continents. Now is not the easiest period of relations between Russia and the Western countries but in our history, there have been a lot of such periods, and they sometimes lasted long enough, but I am sure that we will soon enter a new stage in our relations. Russia is still the largest European country, although it has different values, mentality, and a vision of a common future than its neighbors. And still, there is not a single country in the world and not a single organization that would have the moral right to dictate us how to live. Our history allows us to make decisions on our own,” said Tolstoy.
In this regard, he stressed that Russia will continue to build bilateral relations with Western countries based on our interests and the interests of our partners.
Petr Tolstoy added that a lot of Russians are ”partly amused“ by the accusations of ”undermining democracy in the world“, ”threatening world security“, etc. The days before the upcoming Munich Security Conference a report was published, where Moscow is accused of aggression (the case of Skripal, the Kerch incident, allegedly interfering in democratic elections, cyber-attacks, etc. are mentioned) and is named as “destructive force”.
“It’s not Russia that carries the threat to Western democracy but attempts to impose it (democracy) on third countries by using force, by interfering in their internal affairs, initiating coup d'état and unleashing civil wars. Russia is not a country that needs to frighten the world. Today there are enough real threats,” the Russian parliamentarian said.
In his turn, the head of the delegation of the Parliament of Ireland, Fergus O'Dowd, stressed that the main purpose of the trip of the Irish parliamentarians to Russia is to form their own opinion about our country, as well as to establish a bilateral dialogue in various areas.
Following the meeting, it was decided to appoint representatives of specified committees of both national parliaments to continue joint work and draw up a roadmap of bilateral cooperation.
