State Duma ready to cooperate with constructive forces in new Rada
MOSCOW. Oct 27 (Interfax) - The State Duma is ready to cooperate with deputies of the new Verkhovna Rada.
"We respect the choice made by the voters and do not rule out a possibility of cooperation with the Verkhovna Rada deputies who are inclined to maintain constructive interaction with Russia in the bilateral format or on international parliament platforms," Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Leonid Slutsky told reporters in the early hours of Monday.
Yet he thinks that last Sunday's parliament elections in Ukraine were neither free nor democratic because eastern and southeastern Ukraine did not participate in the ballot or was represented by an extremely small percentage of eligible voters.
"Over one million voters are staying outside the country, hostilities are in progress in Donbas and there is no media freedom," Slutsky said.
