PACE has turned into a place for settling scores between states - Russian Senator
Having returned after a four-year break from PACE, the Russian side is forced to admit that the problems in the organization not only have not gone away, but have even grown over the past year.
The ex-ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States, Senator Sergei Kislyak, stated this during a meeting of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“It’s been almost a year since we returned after a four-year break in PACE, and I must say with great disappointment that the problems that have accumulated in the organization recently have not gone away, but on the contrary, they continue to grow.
What attracts attention, first of all, is that PACE is increasingly becoming a place for settling scores between states, for conducting collective political one-sided campaigns against other states, and thus the unifying agenda of this organization is being stolen. I must say with great disappointment that this has not gone away and may even have grown over this year.
If we look at all the discussions that have taken place recently, we see quite tough skirmishes between our Armenian and Azerbaijani friends, constant attempts to use the organization for anti-Russian purposes by Russia’s opponents, clashes between Greek and Turkish deputies.
We know that there are contradictions, we, of course, understand that they, too, will not go away, but they cannot be resolved in PACE, and as a result, the unifying agenda is increasingly fading into the background. This, of course, disappoints us,” Kislyak said.
“We are disappointed that the organization’s mechanisms were unable to seriously address phenomena that are unacceptable for modern Europe, such as national and linguistic discrimination, statelessness - a phenomenon that we inherited from the last century.
In the XNUMXst century in civilized Europe there are tens of thousands of people who are deprived, strictly speaking, for historical and political reasons, of the simple right to citizenship!
In recent years, we have seen an increase in the glorification of the Nazis, the falsification of the history of the Second World War, and we believe that PACE could and should concentrate more on such problems, because they will determine the nature of the humanitarian and human space in Europe in the future,” – the senator added.
In addition, according to him, the procedure for sanctions pressure has not changed in PACE.
“We believe that with the adoption of the decision to introduce a new three-component system, the adoption of the decision to sanction states that do not fulfill their obligations under PACE, with the adoption of this decision, the rules of procedure of PACE itself should have been put in order.
From which those unlawful mechanisms that were used to fight Russia should be completely excluded, if you call a spade a spade,” noted Sergei Kislyak.
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