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PACE, OSCE should review developments in Ukraine — senior Russian lawmaker

Speaker of the Russian State Duma stressed that "we see Ukrainian citizens as a brotherly nation"

MOSCOW, June 8. /TASS/. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) should create monitoring missions to assess the observance of rights of all Ukrainian citizens, Speaker of the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) Vyacheslav Volodin said on Tuesday.

"We are appealing once again to our colleagues in PACE and OSCE. [They] need to appoint monitoring missions and provide strong assessments of what is happening [in Ukraine]. European countries cannot support a regime that allows nationalism and Fascism to flourish. Authorities who shut down opposition media and parties cannot be supported," he said at the lower chamber meeting considering a bill submitted by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky about native peoples of Ukraine, which would not grant this status to Russians.

According to Volodin, [US President] Joe Biden, who Zelensky is trying to get in touch with, should also understand" that this policy is unacceptable.

The speaker pointed out that Russian lawmakers want Ukraine to thrive. "We once again reaffirm that we make a distinction between [Ukrainian] citizens and the authorities who allow the genocide of their own people today. We are fighting for the rights of Ukrainian citizens who were left alone [with their problems] because they are not interesting for either America or the Council of Europe. What is important is their territories and natural resources. They are viewed as cheap labor," the lawmaker stressed.

"Meanwhile, we see Ukrainian citizens as a brotherly nation. We believe that the rights of all should be protected irrespective of nationality," the politician added.