PACE committee predictably approved biased report on Magnitsky case - Pushkov
MOSCOW. Sept 6 (Interfax) - The approval by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) committee of the report by Swiss parliamentarian Andreas Gross on the Magnitsky case did not surprise Russia, Alexei Pushkov, the head of the State Duma committee on international affairs, said.
"PACE has a stable majority in favor of accusing Russia in the so-called Magnitsky case," Pushkov told Interfax on Thursday.
"In a situation when PACE has a stable majority on this issue, that [the approval of the report by Gross] was not a surprise to us," he said.
Pushkov said that bias against Russia was reflected in the report, which he believes "by 90% reproduces the position of U.S. businessman Browder, who set himself the task of ensuring the adoption of the Magnitsky law, first in the U.S. and then in Europe."
"Because of this biased approach, we opposed both the content of the report and the resolution. We managed to ensure the adoption of some amendments to the texts of these documents, which somewhat soften the bias of this report, but, in our view, do not eliminate its bias," Pushkov said.
Pushkov said he believes this report and the resolution will still be adopted by PACE, probably with some changes.
"The Russian delegation, with support from some delegations and foreign parliamentarians, will oppose the adoption of this report and resolution," he said.