State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin has asked Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) President Anne Brasseur to use her powers and political expertise for the resumption of a full-fledged parliamentary dialogue with Russia and the restoration of peace in Ukraine.
“I am confident there is still a chance to restore civil peace in Ukraine irrespective of the mistakes which have been made. And it must not be missed,” Naryshkin said in a letter to Brasseur.
Interfax has seen a copy of the letter which the speaker said he would publicize “with the purpose of being heard.”
Naryshkin warned European colleagues against the attempts to keep Moscow away from the resolution of the Ukrainian problem and stated civil peace in Ukraine could not be restored without Russia.
“I think there is a need for urgent parliamentary consultations on the Ukrainian problem and Russia should be a part of that,” the speaker wrote to the PACE president.
Naryshkin asked Brasseur and all Assembly members “who truly want to resolve the Ukrainian crisis not to make new mistakes” and called for the full restoration of rights of the Russian delegation to the Assembly (the spring session deprived the delegation of voting rights and activity within the Assembly administrative bodies after the accession of Crimea and Sevastopol to Russia).
“If this decision is made, I will be ready to make a personal appearance at an Assembly meeting and to deliver a speech,” the State Duma speaker said.
Naryshkin explained to Brasseur his disclosure policy – the decision to publicize the letter – with the fact that “the information hysteria had reached an apogee in Europe and formal methods of the conveyance of one’s position [same as PACE debate procedures] had lost credibility.”
This is a moment of truth for all people of Europe, he wrote.
“Hopefully, you see as a fact that Russia and Ukraine are European countries. But there is also a fact that it was not Russia but the badly performed “European integration” that caused mass violations of human rights in Ukraine and hitherto unprecedented civil confrontations. It was precisely the awkward integration policy that helped people openly advocating segregation and Nazism take senior positions,” the State Duma speaker said in an explanation of causes of the Ukrainian crisis.
“I do not believe you may see them as democrats and the incessant and one-time delivery of Molotov cocktails to many regions of Ukraine as a mandatory stage of Euro-integration,” the political told his colleague.
Naryshkin pointed to the flagrant anti-Russian campaign and accused Brasseur of actually taking “the side of those who are cowardly blocking out the truth” and preferring not to listen to the Russian arguments. “But I am no less surprised that you did not take the side of European parliamentarianism at a time when delegates of the entire people were subjected to the so-called sanctions,” said the speaker who had been sanctioned as well.
In addition, Naryshkin called attention of Brasseur to the violation of journalists’ rights in Ukraine.
“The freedom of speech and media, the credibility and fullness of information and the access of journalists to hotbeds have always been indicators of democratic or non-democratic nature of concrete authorities. And by the way they have been used from the PACE rostrum more than once to defame Russia in the years of the conflict in the North Caucasus. I cannot believe you are unaware of that, and I do not believe either that you are unaware of the facts of gross violations of journalist rights in the contemporary Ukraine and the ban on visits by Russian media workers,” the letter runs.
Naryshkin regrets that Brasseur did not visit Crimea during the referendum and did not wish “to see with her own eyes the joy and jubilation of people when families were coming to polling stations and after the votes were counted.”
“And one last thing. You cannot close your eyes to the fact that the new Ukrainian authorities allow Nazi followers to freely march along their streets. And the use of explosives and firearms, which started on Kyiv Maidan, has practically become customary in Ukraine,” the speaker said.
