President Obama’s declaration that the US “brokered a deal to transition power in Ukraine” shows Europe as a passive actor and doesn’t reflect well on its image, Chairman of Russia’s upper house Committee for Foreign Affairs Konstantin Kosachev told RT.
RT:Why is the current situation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) so insulting to Russia?
Konstantin Kosachev: Well, we believe that the
assembly was created several decades ago in order to maintain and
promote inter-parliamentary dialogue. This is a place where
people with different opinions meet together, exchange their
views, which do not always coincide, and make certain
conclusions.
In this case, after the January plenary session I believe that
the Assembly has just interrupted all perspectives for any
dialogue with the Russian delegation. They express accusations,
they move forward demands, they introduce pre-conditions, which
simply cannot be fulfilled, like releasing [espionage suspect,
Ukrainian pilot] Nadezhda Savchenko within the period of 24
hours. It cannot be done in any case within any democratic
society with the rule of law and certain legal procedures.
But in any case the assembly does take this decision and blocks
any [prospects] for common solutions, any mutual understanding,
of any dialogue for the future. And by that the assembly isolates
itself from any possibilities to make a contribution, to
contribute to a peaceful solution of the ongoing crisis in and
around Ukraine. And this is what we simply cannot accept. We feel
sorry about that because we believe the assembly does have very
good potential to play a significant role in the peace
enforcement or peacekeeping efforts, but the assembly does not
use this potential in order to be a participant of the process.
This is simply very stupid.
RT:There is a belief out there that PACE is an American agent in Europe. How can you comment on this?
KK: Well, frankly speaking I do not share this
opinion. I believe that the major problem with the Council of
Europe is that the organization and the Assembly specifically
[are] too much influenced by the European Union. Not by the
United States, not by NATO, but by [the] European Union, because
member states of the European Union build [up] the majority group
of countries who are members of the EU. They are a majority
within the Council of Europe, which sometimes is quite visible
and predictable. If we know the position of the EU almost for
sure that will be the position of the majority in the Council of
Europe.
It does not make sense. I feel sorry that the Council of Europe
is not a composition of 47 independent states and national
delegations. This is a composition of a group of states who are
member states of the European Union – and others. And the Council
of Europe by that becomes a kind of an entrance room for future
member states, future members of European Union – and nothing
else. And for countries like Russia, with no plans of becoming a
member of the European Union, that creates a situation which does
not bring much sense for us in terms of further membership in the
Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly.
RT:US President Barack Obama said in an
interview with CNN that US “brokered a deal to transition power
in Ukraine.” What emotions arise when you hear such
statements?
KK: Well, Mr. Obama has acknowledged what has
been well-known for a long time and I had no doubts and nobody
had doubts that the United States of America did play a very
specific role of enforcing protests in Ukraine one year ago.
Official representatives of the American administration
participated – physically – in protest demonstrations. Each time
they would come to Kiev, certain riots would immediately become
more intensive.
And I am sure that in case the US had not been presented that
much during the initial phase of the crisis, all European
countries like Germany, like France, like many others could have
been much, much more constructive because these countries, I
believe, under regular conditions, would never accept this
forceful change of power in Kiev. They would try to express their
attitude to people in these protest masses who represented most
radical and extremist political views, which previously had not
been accepted by European Parliament for example, I mean the
[Ukrainian radical] political party Svoboda. They were never
accepted in the European Union, but as soon as they became active
in terms of the recent crisis, suddenly they became acceptable,
everybody kept silence about the previous controversies.
That happened because the USA intervened. The USA, I believe,
sent certain very strong signals to their European partners, that
this is too important, stop speaking about values, we would try
to protect our interests in terms of this conflict. And they
succeeded, unfortunately. They succeeded to move forward their
political and geopolitical interests by supporting pro-Western
forces inside of Ukraine and spoiling or provoking problems in
relationships between Ukraine and Russia.
The USA did play a key role in this crisis and this is what has
now been acknowledged by Mr. Obama, and we have nothing but to
feel sorry about that, and we believe that this acknowledgement
is probably not painful, but sensitive for American partners in
Europe. Because by that acknowledgement they are presented not as
active but as passive participants in this crisis, which I
believe is not good for the reputation of these European
countries.
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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.