Savchenko case used as excuse to step up anti-Russian campaign in Europe – State Duma deputy
A Russian MP believes European Parliament members’ calls for new sanctions on Moscow come from a desire to exclude Russia from the global war against terrorism, rather than out of concern for Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, as they have claimed.
“The main reason behind [the call for sanctions] is not the Savchenko process, but simply their [European politicians’] desire to exclude Putin from active life, in this case from an effective struggle against terrorism. It happens because we have succeeded in consolidating the whole world in the war against international terrorism,” RIA Novosti quoted Adalbi Shkhagoshev MP (United Russia), a member of the lower house’s Committee for International Relations, as saying.
READ MORE: Ukraine turmoil triggered by US provocations, majority of Russians maintain
The comments came soon after a group of European Parliament members released an address to the high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Frederica Mogherini, calling on her to impose sanctions against 28 Russian state officials and law enforcers over the trial of Ukrainian citizen Nadezhda Savchenko. Savchenko faces charges of murder and illegal border crossing in Russia. According to the prosecution, in June 2014 she reported the location of Russian journalists to Ukrainian troops, which then shelled the area, killing the two reporters and other civilians.
The address, posted online by Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, a Polish member of the European Parliament, drew comments from other Russian officials.
The deputy prime minister in charge of the defense sector, Dmitry Rogozin, said that the anti-Russian sanctions would exist forever, and that Russians should stop showing interest in this issue. “We have to read more news in which the European Union and the United States first consider lifting the sanctions and then prolong them automatically. I think that we should lose any interest in this,” Rogozin said at a session of the government commission on the development of the Arctic. “We should lose interest in what people in Brussels or Washington say about sanctions. But we should keep in mind – sanctions will exist forever,” he noted.
Lower house MP Olga Batalina, of the majority party United Russia, said that the new attacks on Russia in the European Parliament were masterminded by the “pro-US lobby” and were a betrayal of European interests.
“The United States is extremely sensitive to the strengthening of the Euro – the world currency alternative to the US Dollar – and to the strengthening of the European economy, to the European leaders’ strive for independent policies in international relations. The White House’s phobias include the development of friendly relations between Europe and Russia, and they are doing everything to prevent this, including the destruction of European identity,” she told RIA Novosti.
READ MORE: Western nations see Russia as competitor, majority of Russians say in a poll
“Pro-American lobbyists are entrenched within the European Parliament and their policies are against the interests of a united Europe,” she added.
“The flood of migrants overwhelming European cities, strained international relations, and the economic problems in EU countries are all direct consequences of US aggressive policies in the Middle East. Through the means of their lobby in the political institutions of the united Europe, pressing for the boycott of Russia and new anti-Russian sanctions, the United States continues its destructive activities in Europe. European Parliament members who support these policies are betraying their nations and common European interests,” Batalina stated.
