Russia asks Venice Commission to assess legitimacy of Kyiv decisions - Naryshkin
MOSCOW. March 5 (Interfax) - Russia has asked the Venice Commission to assess the legitimacy of decisions of the new Ukrainian authorities, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said.
"I shall inform you that we have filed a request with the legal affairs committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for making an inquiry with the Venice Commission about the legitimacy of [Ukrainian] decisions," Naryshkin said at a meeting of the working group for legal analysis of legislative procedures and legal acts of Ukraine, which held its inaugural session on Wednesday.
The working group operates under the aegis of Naryshkin. It is headed by Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Development Vladimir Pligin.
Working group member, head of the department on academic support for the activity of the Russian delegation to the Venice Commission Rashad Kurbanov said the request was filed earlier today.
The working group has an extremely serious and responsible mission, Naryshkin stressed.
"As we can see, the acute political crisis in Ukraine is dragging on and one of the reasons is that Ukraine is lacking a political force capable of the legitimate expression of interests and sentiments of the entire multi-national people, all groups of the population and all regions of the country," the speaker said. "And this is an extremely important condition of the political dialogue and public accord."
In his opinion, the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada "has a reserve of legitimacy."
"However, we understand that the working conditions and terms of inviolability and security have changed for certain deputies of the Verkhovna Rada and some of them have been clearly experiencing pressure, which clearly has an effect on the legitimacy of decisions made by the Verkhovna Rada as a whole," the State Duma speaker said.
Russia and Ukraine are members of a single legal family - laws of both countries are formed within a single legal system, the system of continental law, he said.
"Therefore, our conclusions and recommendations will be clear and, I believe, useful for our colleagues, at least for those who would care to listen to our independent and professional opinions and advice," Naryshkin said.
The domestic conflict in Ukraine had taken lives and "hasty and uncoordinated steps towards changing the constitutional field might create new risks to the state stability and the well being of its citizens," Naryshkin opined.
He emphasized that the working group had no intention of interfering in the internal affairs of Ukraine but would only issue recommendations that were clear and useful for the professional community.