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Russia-PACE Relations

Some PACE countries seek to drag others back into the past — Russian parliament speaker

The lawmaker meant Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Georgia, Estonia and Ukraine

Prior to a plenary meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Mikhail Dzhaparidze/TASS

Prior to a plenary meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)

© Mikhail Dzhaparidze/TASS

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. Some members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) seek to drag everyone back into the past, Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said at a meeting with PACE President Liliane Maury Pasquier on Tuesday.

"There are some PACE countries that appear to be trying to drag everyone back into the past," Volodin pointed out, mentioning the Baltic states, Poland, Georgia and Ukraine.

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"They seek to live at the expense of others rather than boost their own economies and meet their own needs. Ukraine wants to live off revenues from Russian gas transit and Georgia wants to export wine to Russia," Volodin added.

He also mentioned a provocation staged in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in the summer, when the city was hosting a meeting of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO). "Some nationalists broke into the parliament’s building, shouting that Russians had occupied it. The incident sparked protests and our delegation was exposed to danger," Volodin noted. He added that the delegation had been invited by the Georgian authorities. "They should provide some kind of an apology," he stressed.

The PACE president arrived in Moscow to participate in the third international conference dubbed "Challenges of Protecting Human Rights in the Eurasian Area: Good Practice Exchange Amongst Ombudsmen." Her meeting with Volodin lasted over two hours. Their previous meeting took place on the sidelines of the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament in Strasbourg on October 24. The State Duma speaker then thanked Pasquier for her efforts aimed at providing Russia with an opportunity to fully participate in PACE’s activities.

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