Russian Duma ready to talk to Ukrainian parliament – ruling party MP

Moscow, 31 March: The State Duma is ready for dialogue with the Ukrainian Supreme Council on various issues in order to bring their positions closer, including on the subject of the upcoming presidential election in Ukraine, member of the State Duma Committee for Security and Countering Corruption Nikolay Kovalev (One Russia parliamentary party) has said.

“When 70 people in the Supreme Council write applications to withdraw from the Party of Regions virtually at gunpoint, the situation is of course not that simple, and yet the Ukrainian Supreme Council is operating. It may be one of the few legitimate, even if only partly legitimate, bodies in Ukraine today,” Kovalev told journalists after a meeting between the State Duma speaker and the chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on Monday [31 March].

“We shall work with it (the Supreme Council – Interfax) of course, have meetings and try to bring our positions closer on certain situations, and the first of these is of course the election they plan to hold on 25 May,” Kovalev told journalists after a meeting between the State Duma speaker and the chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on Monday.

According to Kovalev, Russian MPs have no problems in their contacts, meetings and conversations with Ukrainian Supreme Council deputies. “I hope that these steps, which we call parliamentary diplomacy, will contribute to resolving the situation,” he said.

At the same time Kovalev, who heads the Russian delegation at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, said that the discussion with the head of the assembly, Ranko Krivokapic, had taken place at the very high level of trust.

“The most important thing we talked about was to avoid the exacerbation of the situation and relations, which could lead to fatalities. This is the task that Russia has always set itself. This view is also supported by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly,” the MP stressed.

He said the Russian side was grateful to Krivokapic for his willingness to do what he could to help settle the conflict at a critical moment.

“Our starting positions and ultimate goal are absolutely identical. It was said at the meeting that it was simply impossible to settle the crisis in Ukraine, the situation that had arisen, without the participation of the Russian Federation. This will of course be done using all available ways and means, including the methods of parliamentary diplomacy,” Kovalev said. “These mechanisms will be switched on” shortly, he said. “And I hope that they will play their own very important part,” he stressed.

Kovalev revealed that it was agreed at the meeting to work together on all aspects of resolving the situation in Ukraine. Kovalev expressed the hope that these agreements would bring results.

“These steps are connected with the process of negotiations, and the main task is the legitimization of power in Ukraine,” the head of the Russian delegation at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly said. He said this task would be tackled at all levels of authority. “This is precisely what was discussed with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly delegation,” Kovalev said.