Concerning your article in yesterday’s EUobserver titled Europe’s democratic guardian Tiny Kox denies Russia spy hyperlinks, which was printed with out me being given the prospect to remark in an environment friendly and correct method, I want to specific the next observations.
The claims made within the article and, notably in a report by the File Heart to which it refers to are false, unfounded and defamatory. Components offered on this report don’t current the slightest proof for the far-reaching allegations it makes.
Assembly and discussing with different members of parliaments is an obligation and a duty for any member of parliament and is routine within the worldwide parliamentary sphere.
Particularly, as chief of a political group and rapporteur for a lot of reviews, together with two reviews on election remark within the Russian Federation in 2011 and 2012 and a report on the position and mission of the Parliamentary Meeting of the Council of Europe (PACE) I met with many MPs, together with Russian ones.
On 14 December 2017, as an example, the then president, political group leaders and the PACE secretary normal (Presidential Committee) met with a delegation of the Russian parliament on the Council of Europe (CoE) workplace in Paris, upon the invitation of the President of the Meeting and settlement by all group leaders.
I participated on this assembly, along with all different members of the Presidential Committee, as I participated in (virtually all) Presidential Committee conferences since 2007.
I’ve additionally been advocating for an in-depth inquiry into allegations of corruption in PACE for a very long time.
For instance, on 27 June 2017 I voted, together with 153 different PACE members, in favour of Decision 2169, which instituted a process to make it potential “to dismiss [holders of elective offices within the assembly] throughout their time period of workplace”.
Some 30 members voted towards and 15 abstained. On 6 October 2017, as soon as this process had come into impact, Pedro Agramunt resigned as PACE president.
In April 2021, I additionally offered to the meeting a report on its imaginative and prescient on the strategic priorities for the CoE, which lined a variety of points associated to this organisation. Some 112 PACE members voted in favour of the decision, one voted towards and 25 abstained.
It included a proposal to enhance potentialities for PACE and its Committee of Ministers to raised react to blatant violations by a member state of its obligations.
As regards Valery Levitsky, he was, for a few years, the secretary of the Russian parliamentary delegation to PACE.
On this capability he typically accompanied Russian parliamentarians throughout conferences and carried out different secretariat duties. He was not thought of as a counterpart for me or my colleagues.
PACE, which I at present have the honour of chairing, has performed a key position in guaranteeing the speedy expulsion when unanimously voted in favour of terminating the membership of Russia within the organisation on 17 March 2022.
Since then, it continues to assist Ukraine and works actively on guaranteeing the accountability of the Russian Federation for the crimes dedicated in the middle of this battle of aggression.
