EU resolution on Ukraine is anti-Russian, distorting events – Moscow
Russia has condemned resolution by the EU on Ukraine passed on Thursday. The Russian Foreign Ministry branded it anti-Russian and called its tone “unacceptable and unjust” with its conclusions “distorting the essence of what is happening” in Ukraine.
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the forthright
anti-Russian tone of the resolution is “puzzling.”
“It contains unacceptable and unjust wording and the
conclusions are completely distorting the essence of what is
happening in Ukraine,” the ministry’s department of
information and printing said.
The statement reads that Russia considers the adopted document as
“further evidence of the persistent refusal of MEPs to base
their work on common sense and objective facts.” It added
that such a move was to be expected ahead of the EU Parliament
elections.
The resolution adopted by the EU Parliament on Thursday called
for Russia to immediately withdraw all its military forces
"present illegally on Ukrainian territory." The EU
condemned Russia’s alleged "act of aggression in invading
Crimea" saying that it is as a breach of international law
based on the UN Charter, the OSCE Helsinki Act, the 1994 Budapest
Memorandum and other conventions. The EU branded Crimea’s plans
to hold a referendum on its accession to Russia illegal warning
that Russia’s actions pose a threat to the security of the EU.
"The main thing is that this draft resolution contains a call
to reject the results of the referendum in Crimea. For this
reason, naturally, such a resolution is unacceptable for
us," Interfax quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady
Gatilov as saying Friday.
In addition, the Russian State Duma on Thursday accused the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) of
intentionally hindering the consideration of Russia’s request to
the Venice Commission on the legitimacy of the decisions of the
Verhovnaya Rada, Ukraine’s parliament. A member of the Russian
delegation in the PACE legal committee, Leonid Kalashnikov, said
that he personally introduced the request to consider the
legality of the Ukrainian parliament’s actions and his initiative
was supported by the legal committee.
However, according to Kalashnikov, "the PACE leadership in
the face of Secretary General of the Assembly under false
pretenses sent a letter to the committee with a request to appeal
the decision."
"They understand that if this request reaches the Venice
Commission, which, in essence , is the European Constitutional
Court , it will be forced to acknowledge the illegitimacy of the
Rada’s actions. And they do not want to give any opportunity for
delegitimizing the current gangster authorities in Kiev,” he
added.
Kalashnikov stressed that the EU has double standards, pointing
out the “cynicism” with which the “West refers to
human rights violations committed by the current authorities in
Ukraine.”
