Deputy Slutsky sees Chizhov's restricted access to Europarl as attempt to insult Russia
MOSCOW. June 3 (Interfax) - Russian parliamentarians will bolster cooperation with European colleagues although the European Parliament leaders have decided to restrict free access of Russian Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov to the Parliament and have imposed other restrictions, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Leonid Slutsky has said.
"In spite of this 'tin-pot' decision, we will bolster cooperation with European Parliament members. We do not have to attend meetings of the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee for doing so," Slutsky told Interfax.
The decision to restrict free access of Chizhov to the European Parliament and to assess requests for access of Russian parliament members on 'a case-by-case basis' "is at odds with the level of such a serious European institution as the European Parliament," he said.
This is a new attempt of 'Washington Obkom' to seed discord between Russia and European institutions, the parliamentarian said. "We are not a member of the European Union, and the European Parliament cannot pass any resolutions on Russia, but they are trying to insult us once again," the deputy said.
Yet this attempt will not hinder cooperation between Russian politicians and deputies and their colleagues from dozens of European countries, Slutsky said, adding that collaboration was being maintained on a daily basis and would continue to broaden.
That will happen "in particular against the backdrop of the Minsk agreements in which Russia declared itself as a peacekeeper rather than an aggressor," Slutsky said.
The main task of the United States on the European space is to divide Russia and Europe and to build a unipolar world order, he said.
