Leonid Slutsky’s appeal in connection with the growing threat of the spread of coronavirus


Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, head of the International Public Fund “Russian Peace Fund” Leonid Slutsky prepared an appeal in connection with the growing threat of the spread of coronavirus. It is published on the RPM website and its Facebook page, and is also being prepared for submission through inter-parliamentary cooperation.

Mankind has faced an unprecedented challenge – COVID – 2019. The pandemic, which swept almost all countries and continents, continues to take the lives of people. About 1.2 million people on the planet are already infected with a new type of coronavirus, almost 70 thousand have died. The impending global economic crisis is becoming a negative side effect.

I believe that the virus can only be defeated together. In this context, I would like to express regret that it was not possible to reach consensus at the site of the UN General Assembly regarding the draft Russian Declaration on Solidarity in the Fight against the Coronavirus Virus Pandemic, which was to confirm the international community’s commitment to the principle of the UN Charter on cooperation between states. The document emphasized the need to provide assistance to the affected countries, as well as proclaimed the rejection of trade wars and unilateral sanctions bypassing the UN Security Council to ensure urgent access of the population to food and medicine. The draft Declaration was blocked by the United States, the European Union, Great Britain and Ukraine and Georgia, which acceded to them, solely for political reasons, despite the call of the UN Secretary General Antoni Guterres to refuse restriction.

Western countries calling themselves democratic imposed various kinds of sanctions on almost a third of the world’s population and do not intend to weaken them even against the background of the fight against coronavirus. Such an inhumane line makes it difficult to obtain quality medical care for citizens of countries such as Iran and Venezuela, and also does not contribute to the effective recovery of national economies, including the states of the European continent.

As the head of the Russian Peace Fund and the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs, I appeal to all sensible politicians in the leadership of the European Union, the USA, Great Britain, leading international and inter-parliamentary organizations with an appeal to abandon the destructive sanctions policy. In the context of the global epidemic threat, it is time to stop thinking in the deterrence paradigm, which today puts ordinary people on the brink of survival.

For its part, the Russian Peace Fund will continue to provide assistance to states affected by the COVID – 2019 pandemic by all possible means.
 
Leonid Slutsky,
Chairman of the International Public
Fund “Russian Peace Fund”,
Chairman of the State Duma Committee
for international affairs
 
* RFM has delivered medical equipment and materials to Iran, Serbia, Italy and France.

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