Russia should protect human rights in Ukraine - State Duma speaker
MOSCOW. May 24 (Interfax) - Russia cannot ignore violations of Ukrainians' rights and freedoms and wish for deterioration of their situation, because the people close to Russians live in Ukraine, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said during the consideration of the draft appeal to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly regarding the situation in Ukraine at the State Duma on Wednesday.
"Why should we do that? The more decisions of such a nature he adopts, the faster Ukraine gets rid of him," Nikolai Kolomeitsev, a deputy from the Communist faction, said during the consideration of the draft appeal aimed at stopping the Ukrainian president's actions.
"We must assume that one should not wish for the worst to happen in the sake of the prospective improvement [in Ukraine], we should protect the fundamental human rights in Ukraine and other countries, because we are a part of the European community. Our colleagues in the OSCE PA and other inter-parliamentary institutions must actually understand that the events happening are violation of the fundamental human rights, we see what's happening to pensioners, who had gathered for a rally, for the Immortal regiment procession," Volodin said.
"Anyway, we need to talk about that, we must not turn a blind eye to it. It will result in far worse consequences, and people, who are our compatriots, live there. And Ukraine is, as a matter of principle, our neighbor, and we don't want to wish bad things on them, it's important for us that the rights of citizens are observed there," he said.