MOSCOW, March 31. /ITAR-TASS/. Moves by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to suspend Russia represented a serious blow to European democratic values, the speaker of Russia’s State Duma lower house of parliament said.
“The assembly has submitted two initiatives - to deprive Russia of the right to vote and to suspend Russia’s powers in it,” Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said on Monday.
“This is a provocation and a step towards recognising its own weakness,” he said. “I’d say these initiatives cause damage to the essence of parliamentarism.”
Naryshkin accused oversea partners of an attempt to isolate Russia.
“It would seem that a constructive dialogue, which has been building for twenty years, hampers the West’s hegemony,” he said.
“Let’s have a look at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will decide and what European parliamentarians value - constructive and useful dialogue or an instruction from oversea partners,” he said.
The lower house will debate a draft statement “On the Situation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe” on Tuesday, April 1.