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Sergei Mironov about the events in Ukraine: the Russians never leave one of their own behind! 16 àïðåëÿ 2014 A regular plenary meeting of the State Duma of the Russian Federation held by Sergei Narishkin, Chairman of the State Duma took place on April 16. Sergei Mironov made a statement on the topical social-and economic, political and some other issues on behalf of the A JUST PARTY faction. Dear Sergei Evgenievich and dear colleagues, Nowadays, when we feel compassion for what is going in Ukraine, and hear Mr. Turchinov, the so-called interim president, making the most contradictory hasty statements, we can’t but remember Kashpirovsky and ask him to hold a television session by correspondence to cure "political enuresis" of the above-mentioned mister. I’d really call it nothing but "diagnosis" when after making a statement about the necessity to conduct a dialogue and afford ground for holding a referendum, a command is given to use force against his own people. Of course, now when we are not only observing all this but also taking it heavily, we must once again go back to our roots and realize what is really happening in Ukraine. There are multilevel and multivariable conflicts in Ukraine at present, but the main basic conflict is the geopolitical one between the United States of America and Russia, the conflict for resources, national security and territorial integrity. It is obvious that in this situation, Russia has much more advantages and grounds for defending itself in comparison with America which has constantly been pursuing an aggressive policy through decades, I’d even say – centuries. One cannot but remember that as far as the first conflict between the East and the West which resulted in the first "orange revolution" in Ukraine in 2004, Charles Krauthammer, a very influential" Republican commentator wrote: "This is about Russia first, democracy only second...The West wants to finish the job begun with the fall of the Berlin Wall and continue Europe’s march to the East...The great prize is Ukraine." You must admit that this is a very outspoken remark and a sincere acknowledgement. The second level of the conflict is economic, and here again the main parts are Russia and the European Union: it is the problem of gas supply and its transit, and of course, a desire to have not only constant and favorable but also comfortable trade terms with such a country as Ukraine which lies right in the corridor between Russia and Europe. The third level is a domestic one: this is the struggle between the authorities and the opposition that we have been observing during the last months. This struggle resulted in change of people and faces, but neither its methods nor the rules have changed. It is still the oligarchs who have been struggling one against another. And finally, the fourth level – a social one. There is already a confrontation between people and the authorities, no matter who identify themselves as power. Impoverishment of people, their general social feeling unwell and a sense of a complete social vulnerability when these people face absolute corruption, banditism and a complete inadequacy of the authorities – all these things have led to the social level of the conflict. Now I’d like to fix your attention not on Ukraine but recall what was going on at PACE last week when the Parliamentary Assembly delivered a verdict to our country Russia. Even against the background of all previous facts and activity that has always been unfriendly towards Russia, this session was (of course) distinguished by a rabid Russophobia targeted at our country. The assembly accused Russia of annexation of the Crimea, destabilization of the situation in the South-East of Ukraine, and then, in general, expressed (I am quoting here) "condemnation and disapproval of the Russian Federation’s action with regard to Ukraine". PACE did not hear our grounds that the present so-called authorities came to power in the result of an unconstitutional coup d’Etat. PACE failed to hear our position with regard to the current silence of Europe when neo-Nazis are already in the government of Ukraine. They neither heard nor noticed that will expression of the people of the Crimea was unanimous, and it was a historical reunification of the Crimea with Russia. Neither did they see aspiration of Russia to preserve the territorial integrity of Ukraine through the change of the constitution and its implementation. Nothing has PACE seen; but that session approved of the unprecedented sanctions against our delegation. The tragedy of adopting this resolution is that having betrayed its own ideals, the ideals of human rights and priority of law, PACE frees hands (and has actually done it) of the radical part of the pseudo-political elite of Ukraine. As a consequence, we already have cases of beating and humiliating treatment of the officially registered presidential candidates of Ukraine as well as giving an order to actually start the war against their own people. As we know, the members of the Russian delegation have been deprived of the right to vote, banned from PACE’s management and participation in election observation missions. In this regard, we are likely to have the only right left – the right to pay one of the largest membership fees (over 20 mln. euros a year) for support of PACE work. Do we really need PACE as it works at present? Let’s recall that PACE was founded in 1949 when the integration processes were launched in Europe. Of course, at that time they, at PACE, performed their function but even then it was only a consultative body. After creation of the European Union and formation of the European Parliament, the organization actually lost its functions. In fact, PACE has taken on a new lease of life first, since breakup of the Warsaw Treaty and then dissolution of the Soviet Union. At present, in fact, all attention is concentrated on the Transcaucasian Republics, Moldova, Ukraine and, of course, most of all, Russia. Thereupon, when we think that we have some channel of communication with the European parliamentarians, we realize that indeed a many-sided dialogue does not work out. At the same time, we have another example when the parliamentarians of Latin-American countries are engaged in a dialogue (on an equal ground) with the representatives of the European deputies. In this regard, I believe we should seriously think if we really need membership at the organization where we constantly subject to discrimination and where the attempts are constantly made to monitor us, give us instructions and teach. Dear colleagues, as you know, tomorrow will be held four-way talks – Russia, the United States of America, the European Union and Ukraine. It is critically important for our country who is going to represent Ukraine because if it is the people from Kiev calling themselves the Ukrainian authorities, we find it absolutely inadmissible. In this case, who will represent Ukrainian’s east and south? For example, in my opinion, if it were (at least) two officially registered presidential candidates already having some official status (even under such conditions of lawlessness), I mean Tsarev and Dobkin, it would already change the situation.. As we can see, the main thing is that Mr. Turchinov’s declaration of the so-called "counter-terrorist operation" which is in reality a mere slaughter and the war against his own nation challenges the holding itself of such a conference in Geneva. If military actions start anyway and blood flows, maybe, it is necessary that at this conference the issue be solved concerning creation of a new international criminal court to try the criminals committing crimes against humanity and unleashing a war against their own people. Of course, we can’t be indifferent observing the current situation in Ukraine, and first of all, in its east and south. At present, we can see that those who are issuing criminal orders and seem to have crossed the Rubicon are ready to drown in blood their own country which means giving up (once and forever) the creation of the unitary state (that’s their vision of Ukraine) persistently refuse to hear anything about federalization of the country. We realize that the decision is likely to have been made there. At the same time (I am not going to repeat what I have already said), we must realize who are the real scriptwriters and the masters of those who pretend to claim themselves the new Ukrainian democratic authorities. We are really honest about our wish of the de-escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. We realize that once the war (a real civil war) is unleashed, Russia will not be able to keep out. Our country has never been an aggressor. We have always been able to protect not only ourselves but also our brothers and friends. We must never forget it. Maybe, it is both possible and necessary that we think about a political image of Russia, its political reputation as we may be stung with remorse one day. The Russians never leave one of their own behind! Thank you.
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