The Chairman of the State
Duma Vyacheslav 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)
held a meeting with a delegation of the Slovak Parliament
headed by the leadership of the National Council of the Slovak Republic Andrej
Danko, the Deputy Speaker of the Council, leader of the SNS party (Slovak
National Party) and Tibor Gašpar, representative of the Direction — Social
Democracy faction.
Issues of intensification of cooperation between Russia and Slovakia at the inter-parliamentary level were discussed at the meeting. The conversation was very informative, according to Vyacheslav Volodin.
The Chairman of the State Duma recalled that the current meeting “is especially important against the backdrop of the recent negotiations held between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.” “There were made a number of very important decisions,” he said and added that parliamentarians should provide legislative support for that.
“Our country stands for building of a multipolar world order. We should do everything to ensure that our citizens have the opportunity to determine their own future, and only a sovereign state can do this. When building relations, we adhere to the principles of mutual cooperation and the absence of double standards,” said Vyacheslav Volodin.
“We share the same views on importance of conversation and the need to make decisions on the development of relations between our countries,” emphasized the Chairman of the State Duma.
Commenting on the results of the recent negotiations, Andrej Danko noted: “We want to build our relations on the principles of trust that we have with the Russian Federation. Indeed, it must be said that Russia has managed to overcome various challenges under the leadership of the President [Vladimir Putin]. And therefore, we respect the Russian Federation.”
“We are a member of the European Union, but we are trying to protect our national and state interests. And this should be a certain signal to other European countries and their leaders. This means that we need to negotiate, we need to listen to each other, because only after that we could find a solution. And our visit is such a first symbol,” said Tibor Gašpar following the meeting. He also noted the importance to develop relations in the areas of economics, sports, culture, and strengthen international security together.
The issues of protecting the historical memory of the Great Victory, the 80th anniversary of which will be celebrated in 2025, were also discussed at the meeting. The Chairman of the State Duma invited his Slovak colleagues to take part in memorial and festive events, including an international forum on issues related to preserving historical memory, which will be held by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia in Volgograd.
“We appreciate and express gratitude to our colleagues and citizens of Slovakia for preserving the memory of our soldiers and officers who died during the Great Patriotic War, World War II, during the liberation of Slovakia, for its freedom and independence from the fascist invaders. And it is very important to us that we all appreciate their feats,” concluded Vyacheslav Volodin.
