MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. Far from all members of the European Parliament have unanimously supported Lithuanian legislator Andrius Kubilius’s call addressed to the EU authorities for reconsidering relations with Russia, Russia’s permanent representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, said on the Rossiya-24 round-the-clock television news channel on Thursday.
"The results of the voting indicate that there was no unanimity in support of this opus even among the European Parliament’s members. Possibly, a certain degree of common sense can still be found there," he said.
Chizhov stressed that the European Parliament’s decision was purely a recommendation.
"This recommendation will remain a recommendation, and it should be placed squarely on the conscience of its authors," Chizhov said.
He stressed that the question of recognizing or not recognizing the State Duma elections was a competence of each individual EU country, and not European Parliament members, who nevertheless were trying to rush with judgements.
European Parliament resolution
At its full-scale session in Strasbourg the European Parliament approved a report by Lithuania’s Andrius Kubilius containing a call upon the EU authorities for revising relations with Russia.
The report says that the EU countries should be prepared to refuse to recognize the results of the forthcoming State Duma elections, if violations of democratic procedures and international law were exposed.
Russia’s State Duma elections are due on the single voting day, September 19, 2021. The process of casting ballots will be extended over three days - September 17,18 and 19.