JAKARTA, October 6. /TASS/. The speaker of the upper house of Russia’s parliament invited the delegation of Ukrainian lawmakers at a G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ meeting to sit down and negotiate.
"Let’s sit down at the negotiating table here on the sidelines of the G20 parliamentary summit today. The parliament of Russia, the parliament of Ukraine. Let’s try to understand each other and reach an agreement," Valentina Matviyenko said in response to a speech by a Ukrainian delegate who accused Russia of aggression.
The speaker of the Federation Council said that Russia had repeatedly proposed holding talks to resolve the Ukrainian crisis and that an agreement had almost been reached. "But unfortunately, Ukraine, being seemingly under external control, rejected those agreements. We reiterate that we are for talks, we are for dialogue, we are for finding a political solution to this crisis. Let’s communicate and let’s get down to business," she said, addressing Ukrainian lawmakers.
"The respected Speaker of the lower house of the British Parliament quite rightly said that human rights must be respected. I share his point of view, but the most important human right is the right to life. For eight years after the Western-backed coup d'·tat in Ukraine, why didn't the enlightened Europe and Great Britain pay attention to the regular shelling by Ukraine of peaceful cities, civilians, the destruction of hospitals and schools? Why didn't you then stand up for the most important human right - the right to life?" - Matviyenko asked, addressing the British parliamentarian.
Moreover, she recalled, the UK has repeatedly invaded other countries in the course of its history, while NATO bombed Yugoslavia and intervened in Iraq and Libya.
The Russian speaker also rejected accusations that Russia was to blame for the food and energy crises. "You did your best to halt Russian gas supplies to Europe, and someone even blew up Nord Stream 1 and 2, the two effective pipelines for pumping natural gas to Europe," she said, insisting that an unbiased probe be conducted into the damage done to the pipelines which she said had been built by companies from five European countries.