Duma calls on world parliaments to prevent humanitarian disaster in Ukraine
Russian MPs suggest a new international contact group on the basis of PACE that would help stop the armed standoff in Ukraine and prevent the looming humanitarian disaster in the country.
The address to the parliaments of the world and international parliamentary organizations has been prepared jointly by all four parliamentary parties and signed by lower house speaker Sergey Naryshkin (United Russia) and first deputy speakers Vladimir Vasilyev (United Russia), Gennadiy Zyuganov (Communist Party), Sergey Mironov (Fair Russia) and Vladimir Zhirinovsky (Liberal Democratic Party).
“The State Duma MPs are outraged by the fact that the current Kiev authorities are supporting the escalation of the civil war and cruel murders of civilians by raging nationalist radicals. Until today the precise number and names of those of those burned alive in Odessa have not been disclosed. The numbers range from several dozen to several hundred and this is proof of the authorities’ unwillingness to tell the truth and put those responsible on trial,” the letter reads.
The MPs also write that it was important to inform all their colleagues around the world that dozens of people were killed in the towns of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, as well as other places in Ukraine, under the pretext of a counter-terrorist operation, which is in reality a punitive raid.
“Millions of Ukrainian citizens have become hostages of the Kiev junta and potential victims of the mass Human Rights violations,” the MPs said.
The Russian politicians stated in the address that it was necessary to hold consultations between parliaments in order to develop approaches that would contribute to the defusing of tensions and restoration of security for all Ukrainian citizens. The document also mentioned the road map drafted by the Swiss chair of the OSCE on May 7 this year as “worthy of attention.”
The letter will be forwarded to the PACE, the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, the Asian-Pacific Parliamentary Assembly, Pan-African Parliament and to the Russian Foreign Ministry, which will forward it to parliaments of the world through diplomatic channels.
In January this year the State Duma passed a similar statement in which it said that the aggravation of the political and social situation in Ukraine should be blamed on radical opposition and also on certain foreign political circles, who supported the opposition that seized the power in the country a short time later as a result of a violent coup.
