Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky:
“The statement of the head of the foreign policy committee of the Verkhovna Rada Bogdan Yaremenko about the refusal of the Ukrainian delegation to participate in the autumn session of PACE looks like a demarche and an attempt to blackmail. The argument does not hold water. Ukrainian deputies continue to engage in the substitution of concepts and distort the entire information picture, calling the amendments adopted at the June session on the equality of all national delegations “a violation of the principles of the Assembly”. In this way, “trust in PACE” cannot be returned.
The PACE October Session is eventful. Commemorative events are expected on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Council of Europe, as well as a statement by the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, followed by a discussion in plenary. France is one of the member countries of the “Norman format.” And it is very strange that the Ukrainian deputies refuse the direct opportunity to ask questions, including on a settlement in the Donbass. “I will frostbite my ears with evil”, you cannot say otherwise. We can only regret such a destructive position. ”
