Kondratiuk calls giving platform to sanctioned Russians at Swiss parliament conference hypocritical
The Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Olena Kondratiuk, considers it hypocritical to give a platform to Russian sanctioned individuals at the World Conference of Heads of Parliaments in Switzerland.
"Delegated by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada to the World Conference of Heads of Parliaments in Switzerland... On the way, I saw the news that a plane with the Speaker of the Russian (I can't bring myself to call it a parliament) Valentina Matvienko had landed in Geneva. Switzerland, which has joined the European sanctions packages against Russia, is receiving a plane with sanctioned persons! And what about the ban on takeoff and landing of Russian planes? Not only Matvienko, who has been on the Swiss sanctions list since 2014, there are at least three more sanctioned persons in the delegation - vice speakers! The Inter-Parliamentary Union, which was created to maintain peace in the world, gives a platform to the aggressor! And flowers, these flowers at the plane's gangway... in Geneva!.. It's so hypocritical. Appeasing the aggressor again... even where the Geneva Conventions were adopted... history teaches us nothing," Kondratiuk wrote on Facebook on Monday.
According to Kondratiuk, after she saw the news that representatives of the aggressor country would participate in the conference, her first thought was to turn around and go home.
"But we have to say this out loud?! I'm going further. I plan to speak from the rostrum at the general meeting of all speakers of the world, I have bilateral meetings. We will declare this everywhere: that it is impossible to achieve peace without punishing the aggressor! We are on the side of light!" Kondratiuk said.
The vice-speaker said that she would speak in the discussion on the role and parliamentary cooperation for the sake of peace, justice and prosperity. According to her, Ukraine will ask to approve the allocation of military and humanitarian aid, especially air defense means, to continue sanctions pressure on the aggressor state and to direct frozen assets of the Russian Federation to the reconstruction of the destroyed.
"We welcome initiatives such as the London "Coalition of the Willing" and the Weimar+ format as examples of coordinated European leadership. That is why we call on all IPU member parliaments to actively engage in peacemaking efforts. In particular, to participate in the fourth parliamentary summit of the International Crimean Platform. As well as to visit Ukraine and join the International Coalition for the Return of Children Bring Kids Back. She recalled that the Speakers' Summit is held every five years by the Inter-Parliamentary Union - a global organization that unites 181 parliaments.