Deputies discussed the situation in the neighboring state

At a meeting of the working group to analyze the legislation of Ukraine, State Duma deputies once again discussed the violation of human rights in the neighboring country. They believe that the power of President Petro Poroshenko is personalistic in nature, and the institutions of power have been called decorative. According to the expert, at such meetings, deputies try to convince citizens of the Russian Federation that Russia’s actions in Ukraine were of a “peacekeeping” nature.

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Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Vladimir Pligin (center) and member of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Vasily Likhachev

Photo: Kommersant / Gleb Shchelkunov / buy photo

From left to right: Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Vladimir Pligin, Chairman of the State Duma Sergei Naryshkin, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Alexey Pushkov and Commissioner of the Russian Foreign Ministry for Human Rights Konstantin Dolgov

Photo: Kommersant / Gleb Shchelkunov / buy photo

Photo: Kommersant / Gleb Shchelkunov

Photo: Kommersant / Gleb Shchelkunov / buy photo

State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, at a meeting of the working group, compared the draft amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine, which President Petro Poroshenko introduced to the Verkhovna Rada on July 1 (concerning the decentralization of power), with the “decentralization of power in a unitary model of the state.” The head of the Committee on International Affairs, Alexey Pushkov, announced the beginning of the personalization of power in Ukraine “on the basis of the coup d’etat on February 21–22, 2014.” In his opinion, the “Right Sector” and the SBU will be built into the system of “unlimited power” of Mr. Poroshenko. And the institutions of power, according to Mr. Pushkov, are “decorative in nature” in Ukraine. The deputy included the Verkhovna Rada and the court among them; the opposition, according to Mr. Pushkov, “practically does not exist” in Ukraine.

Human rights in Russia need clarification

The head of the Committee on Constitutional Legislation, Vladimir Pligin, announced “the strengthening of militaristic sentiments in Ukraine.” Mr. Pligin called the law on the legal regime of martial law, signed on June 8 by President Petro Poroshenko, “opaque” and “unmotivated.” He also noted that the established procedure for military service by foreigners and stateless persons is a violation of existing norms.

The deputies also did not ignore the violation of human rights in Ukraine. Alexey Pushkov said that Ukraine is “the first country to officially refuse to respect human rights.” “Even the military regime in Myanmar does not make statements about non-compliance with human rights in order to suppress revolutionary sentiments,” Mr. Pushkov emphasized. The Foreign Ministry Commissioner for Human Rights, Konstantin Dolgov, stated the “need to attract the attention of the world community” to the problem of human rights violations in Ukraine.

Such meetings are “an attempt to prove to the citizens of the Russian Federation that we are right in the Ukrainian crisis, being peacemakers, and Ukraine is demonstrating legal nihilism and disrespect for international legal norms,” political scientist Konstantin Kalachev told Kommersant.

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The State Duma considers Ukrainian government institutions “decorative”