KIGALI, October 15. /TASS/. The position of the countries believing that Russia’s goal is to revive the empire and to annex territories "is fundamentally erroneous," as Russia does not aspire to world dominance, but merely defends people, Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council (the upper house of Russia’s parliament) Konstantin Kosachev said at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Rwanda on Friday.

"Most of the delegations here think that the essence of current developments revolves around Russia’s attack on Ukraine. This general perception is substantiated with the results of the vote calling to put an urgent issue on the Assembly’s agenda. The fact that so many delegations have bought into this interpretation can be explained quite simply, since many see Russia as another reincarnation of the former Soviet Union or the Russian Empire, whose sole goal is to revive the empire. However, this interpretation of the issue is fundamentally erroneous," the senator said in his speech.

Kosachev admitted that he had initially planned to talk about gender equality, but as a result, was forced to focus on another problem - the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, since the Russian delegation "is receiving very many questions about what is going on and also requests to clarify Russia’s position."

"Russia most definitely does not want to revive any empires, does not seek to establish a unipolar world or does not aspire to world domination," Kosachev stressed.

The senator praised Russia as a unique country, home to nearly 200 nationalities and ethnic groups speaking nearly 300 languages.

"I would like to draw your attention to the fact that none of the nationalities living in Russia or ethnic groups seek to secede from Russia, since all of them live in peace and harmony. They do not suffer from violations of their rights related to their language, religion or culture. However, such violations occur in some former Soviet republics, where numerous nationalities and ethnic groups want to secede, as they do not feel comfortable there," the Federation Council deputy speaker said, adding that it was the case with Transnistria in Moldova, with South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia, and the same happened in Ukraine.

According to the lawmaker, the difference between Russia and all those countries is that the Russian authorities would have never allowed "nationalists that any country has" to take power under the slogan "Russia for Russians."

"We are convinced that their coming to power would immediately result in the loss of our country’s territorial integrity. We cannot afford this in any way. But that is precisely what happened in Ukraine," the senator said.

Kosachev pointed out that nationalists took power in Ukraine in 2014 and sparked a civil war. The politician noted that the Ukrainian government had deprived millions of Ukrainians of the opportunity to live in safety, to speak Russian, to preserve their culture and to adhere to their vision of history. The senator added that in that thorny situation, Russia had been trying for eight years to help Ukraine restore and maintain its territorial integrity, but Kiev rejected the Minsk accords and started bombarding southeastern Ukraine.

 

Difference with Chechnya conflict

 

The Federation Council deputy speaker stated that Russia faced a similar situation during the Chechnya conflict, and initially allowed the same mistakes which the Ukrainian authorities are making now, as Moscow viewed the people of Chechnya as terrorists, separatists and criminals, attempting to "use military force to compel them to live within one Russian state."

"Nevertheless, such an attitude did not work, and it could not work. Only after altering our strategy and starting a dialogue with our own citizens in Chechnya, after taking into account the specific features of that region and the interests of local people and so on, were we able to achieve the political solution to the conflict," Kosachev emphasized.

"However, a contrary situation can be seen in Ukraine, since the Ukrainian authorities still refuse to talk to the people from the country’s southeast. That is why millions of people in southeastern Ukraine decided to gain independence from the country that does not respect their rights and tramples their dignity, religion, language and culture," he said.

Kosachev concluded by assuming that this view differs from the view that can be heard from Ukrainians and their handlers.

The senator invited the parliamentarians to "visit the conflict-ridden regions."

"You can go to Crimea, to Donetsk, to Lugansk and talk to people there. You are well aware that Ukraine will be opposing it. Why? Because they do not want you to know the truth. All our actions are not aimed at annexing any territories or resources, but at protecting the people who live there," Kosachev concluded.