“Double
standards can be seen in any issue of the agenda, whether it is related to the protests in Belarus or the general debate on human rights and freedom of expression. It should not be like this, because such approaches undermine the credibility
of the largest platform for the European inter-parliamentary dialogue and devalue the adopted decisions and resolutions,” Petr Tolstoy
Petr Olegovich
told journalists
following the meeting.
“We conveyed the position of the State Duma, which was reflected in the statement adopted last week. We are convinced that the debate on certain issues at the Assembly should be thematic, not country-specific: I mean that not only those problems that exist in the areas located to the east of Vienna should be considered, but also those that can be found to the west of it. We see how the authorities act during the protests in the Netherlands, riots in Germany and France, and we believe that this issue should be considered in a comprehensive manner, and not selectively,” he added.
As for the problem of the detention of the blogger Alexei Navalny, the Russian parliamentarians also expressed their position and agreed to discuss this issue again during the visit of Rik Daems to Moscow in the coming months.
The parliamentarians also discussed the relevant issues of the upcoming session, as well as issues of inter-parliamentary cooperation between Russia and the Council of Europe.
