Leonid Slutsky: “In 2020, we will first of all counteract the falsification of the history of the Second World War on all inter-parliamentary venues”


Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky:
 
“The activities of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs in 2020 will be determined, first of all, by the Message of the President to the Federal Assembly. First of all, we will work towards countering the falsification of the history of the Second World War at all interparliamentary venues.

In this context, they intend to organize a separate round table in the State Duma on the topic of protecting historical memory abroad. The deputies are especially worried about everything that happens in Poland, where the memory of the feat of the Soviet soldier-liberator is being successively destroyed in order to please the Russophobic course of the current leadership in Warsaw. In addition, in anticipation of the celebration of the anniversary of the Great Victory in April, together with MGIMO, the Russian Foreign Ministry is planning to hold a large-scale international conference, which will be attended by WWII veterans, members of their families, parliamentarians, experts from countries that fought against Nazism.

In addition, the committee will also focus on engaging with parliaments, especially the founding countries of the UN, to prevent the growth of trends leading to global war. The plans include holding joint meetings of foreign policy committees both on this issue and on key issues on the international agenda and bilateral cooperation with various foreign partners.

At the same time, much attention will be paid to global security and strategic nuclear deterrence. At the parliamentary level, we will discuss the problems of prolonging the START Treaty, which expires on February 5, 2021. We will involve leading Russian and foreign experts in this work, including hope, from the USA.

Given the rapidly changing international situation, we also hope to develop parliamentary contacts with our Syrian colleagues, including interparliamentary cooperation to solve humanitarian problems and restore the destroyed infrastructure of Syria. Also, the resource of parliamentary diplomacy can be connected to the Libyan dossier.

In 2020, Russia will chair the SCO and BRICS. Through the Committee on Foreign Affairs, we intend to contribute to the formation of the parliamentary component of these integration blocks. As the first steps, we see the possible holding of a meeting of the speakers of the SCO parliaments in the near future in Moscow.

The Committee will continue to work in formats that have become the stem in the international activities of the State Duma. In the summer of 2020, the 3rd Moscow International Forum “Development of Parliamentarism” is planned. We expect an expansion in the composition of its participants. Already today, the committee’s “portfolio of applications” includes 230 people from 80 countries, including 141 deputies from 63 countries. And this is just the beginning.

It is also planned to hold the fifth meeting of the Speakers of the Eurasian Parliaments. This year it will be held in Indonesia.

Another venue is the Conference of Speakers on Security and Counter-Terrorism. In 2020, it will be held in Moscow. This format has already become the prototype of the parliamentary dimension to counter the most terrible threat of the 21st century – terrorism and drug trafficking.

The Committee will actively continue to work on the most important topic, which is highlighted in a separate dossier – the creation in Russia of a system of assistance to citizens of the Russian Federation who find themselves in a difficult situation abroad. Here we look forward to active cooperation with relevant ministries and departments, the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, representatives of the scientific and expert communities, as well as civil society. ”

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