The meeting participants discussed the recent appeal of the State Duma Commission to the members of the Bundestag and the prospects for development of Russia-Germany cooperation against the background of the incident with Alexey Navalny.
Vasilii Piskarev
Vasily Ivanovich
emphasized that “Russian parliamentarians were interested in the prompt and objective investigation of the incident with Alexey Navalny,” and urged the Bundestag members to assist in the necessary materials obtaining by Russian law
enforcement agencies from the German authorities (including, results of expert and medical examinations of Alexey Navalny, as well as responses to requests for legal assistance of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation and added
that “four requests had already been sent”). The parliamentarian noted ‘the persistent denial to provide Russia with that information, precluding the use
of all the necessary procedural mechanisms by our law enforcement agencies to establish the truth in this case.’
Vasilii Piskarev stressed that ”according to the results of the medical examination of Alexey Navalny performed by highly qualified doctors and specialists in Omsk, no traces of any toxic substances before his departure from the territory of Russia had been found.“
The Chairman of the State Duma Commission also emphasized the inadmissibility of using provocations as a pretext for imposing new sanctions against Russia and undermining the relations of good-neighborliness and cooperation between our countries that had been developed over the past decades.
“We need a constructive and compelling dialogue in the interests of the people of Russia and Germany, and parliamentarians have just taken the first step to establish it. We will continue such contacts,” said Vasilii Piskarev. The Chairman of the State Duma Commission invited his German colleagues to visit Moscow and continue their joint work.
German parliamentarians supported the idea of maintaining a constructive dialogue between Russia and Germany and separating criminal law issues from political, economic, cultural and humanitarian aspects of cooperation between the two states. They also informed of their intention to appeal to the President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Schäuble to provide a formal response to the letter of the State Duma Commission.
Members of the Bundestag German-Russian Parliamentary Friendship Group also proposed to hold meetings via videoconference and discuss issues of bilateral relations regularly, at least every two months.
The Chairman of the German-Russian Parliamentary Friendship Group of the Bundestag Robby Schlund thanked Vasilii Piskarev for the invitation to visit Moscow and expressed his readiness to come to Russia in the near future.
Members of the State Duma Commission on the Investigation of Foreign Interference in Russia’s Internal Affairs and members of the German-Russian Parliamentary Friendship Group of the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany took part in the meeting held via videoconference.
