Europe starts in Russia

All flags will visit us ... European flags.

This is about the visit to Russia of the head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Hendrik Dahms, which takes place on March 15-16.

There is a special interest in the event.

The formal side is the quarter-century anniversary of Russia's membership in the Council of Europe.

In fact - another aggravation of relations on the eve of the arrival of the head of the PACE.

There were again proposals on the possible withdrawal of the Russian Federation from the Assembly.

Observers pinned their hopes to overcome the crisis with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.

Like, he knows how to talk with European colleagues.

The speaker announced some of the results of the meeting through his Telegram channel.

The first day was completed, if not triumphantly, then so.

“We agreed to build relations on the principles of trust, respect for the choice of citizens of each country and the absence of double standards,” Volodin told the world.

It would be good.

Although this requires a test of time.

The topic of double standards in the policy of both PACE and the West as a whole is a traditional refrain of the Russian side.

The same Volodin spoke exhaustively about this back in 2019.

That is, the problem is long-standing, intractable.

It is possible to overcome it without breaking off contacts only by painstakingly achieving mutually acceptable results on an ever wider range of issues.

One of these questions, right on the profile, is the parliamentary elections in Russia in September.

“I suggested to the PACE chairman to send observers to the elections of the State Duma deputies.

A colleague accepted this offer, ”wrote Volodin.

Dams called the idea "good."

Not that anyone doubted the desire of the Europeans to control our electoral process, but in a situation of some frustration, there could be surprises.

And here the opinion of our "radical" - the head of the Russian delegation to PACE Pyotr Tolstoy is valuable.

It was he who frightened Strasbourg with Russia's withdrawal from the Assembly.

Working together in September will help restore confidence, the politician reassured.

On the issue of the pandemic, Volodin took an offensive position.

Russian citizens working in Europe, he explained, faced a lot of restrictions caused by both objective reasons (quite understandable difficulties in connection with force majeure) and the subjective inability of the authorities of many European states to solve urgent problems.

“There are many examples when they are trying to resist the promotion of the Russian vaccine to the European market.

People are dying ... Who is to blame?

Why, when there is a vaccine, people cannot get it? "

- the speaker of the State Duma reasonably asked his counterpart.

It hurt, oh, it hurt to hear such a Damsa, but what to do.

They do not take offense at the truth.

Russia is ready to come to the aid of its neighbors by supplying the world's best vaccine, Sputnik V, but for this the neighbors themselves must also try to remove far-fetched obstacles.

It is possible that in the next few months Russia will host a PACE meeting on combating the pandemic.

After all, we are no stranger to saving Europe from itself.

It is useful that Vyacheslav Volodin and the head of the State Duma committee on international affairs Leonid Slutsky showed yesterday to Dams the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, part of the exposition of which is dedicated to the Holocaust.

The author of the idea is awarded a medal.

Another important topic that was planned to be discussed was digital sovereignty.

“We will definitely exchange views on the activities of foreign IT-communications, which no longer regard national legislation and the rights of citizens as anything,” Volodin promised on the eve of the visit.

Maybe they touched it slightly, although the speaker's Telegram release does not say about this.

In any case, the topic is large-scale and requires a solution.

This was already understood in Europe, and in Russia, and in distant Australia.

Sooner or later, global IT giants will have to accept national rules of the game.

In this issue, the interests of all countries of the world - with the exception, perhaps, of the United States - coincide.

Perhaps that is why Washington is so stubbornly trying to divide us.

Valentina Matvienko, the second negotiating partner of the day, complained to Dams about attempts to use the Council of Europe as an instrument of confrontation in relations with Russia, new dividing lines and unfair attacks on our country.

At the same time, the speaker of the Federation Council assured the head of PACE of Russia's inevitable striving for a respectful dialogue for the sake of the goals once declared by the Council of Europe.

Everything is as always: Russia, smiling affably, is calling - Europe is wandering.

How else to characterize the strange selectivity of this association towards its own values ​​when it comes to Russian interests?

Thus, the head of PACE ignored pickets against repressions against Russian, Russian-speaking journalists in Latvia, which activists held in front of his hotel in Moscow.

But we are talking about the basic values ​​of the Council of Europe and Russia as a part of it.

If Dams's "amnesia" over Navalny and Crimea (the PACE head was called upon to raise these issues as well) is understandable, natural - there is nothing for Europe to catch - then the actual apartheid of Russians on the territory of the Council of Europe will have to be answered.

And it is better for Riga to answer than Strasbourg.

Leonid Slutsky promised to monitor the situation in Latvia.

It is surprising that Russia has to remind Europeans of their own values ​​and goals.

"According to Article 1 (Statute of the Council of Europe. -

), this organization is aimed at achieving greater unity between the member states of the Council of Europe, the realization of common ideals and principles and promoting the economic and social progress of the participating countries," he recalled on the eve of the visit Damsa Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the Council of Europe Ivan Soltanovsky.

Like, don't be weird, remember your own law.

Since 1996, Russia has been participating in the formation of a single legal and humanitarian space by joining the 68 conventions of the Council of Europe.

Has this begun to interfere with someone?

According to Soltanovsky, in the event of a repetition of the mistake (attempts to restrict the Russian delegation to PACE in its rights, to read notations to us - a continent country), the Council of Europe will begin to lose Russia.

And with it the meaning - the pan-European dimension of its existence.

Europe will shrink.

Its eastern border will move from Vladivostok to Kharkov (and maybe to Warsaw, I will add).

Such areas of work as health care, the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking, youth, sports, culture, social services, people with disabilities, interreligious dialogue will disappear.

The CE will turn into a "human rights appendage of the EU," Soltanovsky points out.

The PACE treasury will be empty ...

So is it worth tempting fate?

After all, it is already clear: Europe begins in Russia.

Perhaps today Sergey Lavrov, meeting with Dams, will clearly explain this once again.

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.