EU resolution on Ukraine is anti-Russian, distorting events – Moscow

Russia has condemned resolution by the EU on Ukraine passed on Thursday. The Russian Foreign Ministry branded it anti-Russian and called its tone “unacceptable and unjust” with its conclusions “distorting the essence of what is happening” in Ukraine.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the forthright anti-Russian tone of the resolution is “puzzling.”

“It contains unacceptable and unjust wording and the conclusions are completely distorting the essence of what is happening in Ukraine,” the ministry’s department of information and printing said.

The statement reads that Russia considers the adopted document as “further evidence of the persistent refusal of MEPs to base their work on common sense and objective facts.” It added that such a move was to be expected ahead of the EU Parliament elections.

The resolution adopted by the EU Parliament on Thursday called for Russia to immediately withdraw all its military forces "present illegally on Ukrainian territory." The EU condemned Russia’s alleged "act of aggression in invading Crimea" saying that it is as a breach of international law based on the UN Charter, the OSCE Helsinki Act, the 1994 Budapest Memorandum and other conventions. The EU branded Crimea’s plans to hold a referendum on its accession to Russia illegal warning that Russia’s actions pose a threat to the security of the EU.

"The main thing is that this draft resolution contains a call to reject the results of the referendum in Crimea. For this reason, naturally, such a resolution is unacceptable for us," Interfax quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov as saying Friday.

In addition, the Russian State Duma on Thursday accused the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) of intentionally hindering the consideration of Russia’s request to the Venice Commission on the legitimacy of the decisions of the Verhovnaya Rada, Ukraine’s parliament. A member of the Russian delegation in the PACE legal committee, Leonid Kalashnikov, said that he personally introduced the request to consider the legality of the Ukrainian parliament’s actions and his initiative was supported by the legal committee.

However, according to Kalashnikov, "the PACE leadership in the face of Secretary General of the Assembly under false pretenses sent a letter to the committee with a request to appeal the decision."

"They understand that if this request reaches the Venice Commission, which, in essence , is the European Constitutional Court , it will be forced to acknowledge the illegitimacy of the Rada’s actions. And they do not want to give any opportunity for delegitimizing the current gangster authorities in Kiev,” he added.

Kalashnikov stressed that the EU has double standards, pointing out the “cynicism” with which the “West refers to human rights violations committed by the current authorities in Ukraine.”