Petr Tolstoy hopes that PACE will resume work in the usual format in autumn

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, head of the Russian delegation to PACE and Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Petr Tolstoy announced that, summarizing the results of the spring plenary session of the State Duma. The parliamentarian also recalled that the PACE summer session, planned to be held on June 22-26, was canceled due to coronavirus pandemic
Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Petr Tolstoy
Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Petr Tolstoy

“All meetings of PACE committees and commissions have been held in the format of videoconferences already for several months. But this is inconvenient and ineffective. The main goal of our delegation's work at the Assembly is to defend interests of Russia, to state our position on topical issues of the international agenda. And we would like to do that looking directly in the eyes of our opponents,” said Petr Tolstoy Tolstoy Petr Olegovich Tolstoy
Petr Olegovich
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According to him, there are a lot of unresolved issues due to the current situation. “It is disturbing that anti-Russian reports continue to be churned out despite the fact that the borders are closed and the speakers do not even have the opportunity to visit our country,” he stressed.

“As a result, these libels are created on the basis of information provided by anti-Russian NGOs. However, they continue to make conclusions, questionable assumptions and bring new charges. In addition, the recently adopted amendments to the Russian Constitution, which immediately had become a target for all Russophobes, now became a pain in the neck to our opponents,” the parliamentarian added.

“Next meetings of the Bureau and the Standing Committee, will be held in Chania (Crete) on September 15–16 in the format of personal meetings. On October 12–16, the PACE autumn session is planned to be held in Strasbourg, and I hope it will take place in the usual format. But the final decision on holding virtual meetings will depend, of course, on the world epidemiological situation,” concluded Petr Tolstoy.