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Russian Duma speaks in favor of restarting inter-parliamentary dialogue with Ukraine

Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky said that establishing inter-parliamentary dialogue with the Verkhovna Rada will help put an end to antagonisms in relations between Moscow and Kiev

Chairman of the Russian State Duma's International Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

Chairman of the Russian State Duma's International Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky

© Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. Contacts between the Russian and Ukrainian parliaments must be restarted in order to mend ties between Kiev and Moscow, chairman of the Russian State Duma's International Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky told Rossiya-24 TV channel on Monday.

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"As for the parliamentary diplomacy, I believe much can be done if we carefully, step-by-step establish cooperation with the Verkhovna Rada. It is necessary to establish cooperation," Slutsky said.

He believes a dialogue between parliamentarians could be "rather constructive," helping to not only discuss the Minsk agreements and the international agenda, but to put an end to antagonisms in relations between Kiev and Moscow.

A snap parliamentary election was held in Ukraine on Sunday, July 21. A total of 225 candidates will get seats in the parliament by party lists, while candidates elected in single-member districts are expected to secure 199 seats.

The voter turnout was 49.84%, the lowest in the history of Ukrainian parliamentary elections.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s Servant of the People party garnered 42.85% of votes in the snap parliamentary election after 80.61% of ballots were counted, Ukraine’s Central Election Commission (CEC) reports.

Opposition Platform For Life has received 12.97% of votes, former President Pyotr Poroshenko’s European Solidarity — 8.33%, former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko's Batkivschina — 8.10% and singer Svyatoslav Vakarchuk’s Golos (Voice) — 6.07%.

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