Parliamentarian Aleksandra Buratayeva On Pace Adopted Amendment 6 Devoted To Russia

In a RIA Novosti interview, Aleksandra Buratayeva, deputy chairman of the Duma committee on international affairs, assessed the adoption by the PACE session of amendment 6 to the report of the PACE committee on culture, education and science 'On the situation around free press in Europe' as another attempt to make Russia a scapegoat. This amendment blames Russian authorities for involvement in intimidation of the freedom of expression and media in Russia. Here, PACE MPs refer to the developments around the Media-Most holding. The amendment was adopted by a group of liberal MPs, including Russian deputies Aleksander Shishlov and Sergei Ivanenko /Yabloko faction/. Aleksandra Buratayeva remarked that it was the first PACE session in the past years, whose agenda did not include Russia. However, opponents of our country did not miss their chance, emphasised the deputy. Today's amendment once again indicates that there would certainly be a reason to blame Russia for encroaching on democracy, freedom of speech and so on, said Buratayeva. The Russian deputy added that during the session chairman of the political group Van der Linden from Holland openly instructed the MPs to avoid broad terms but to cite the specific examples of Russia and Ukraine. At the same time, when debating the PACE report many deputies said that Russia should not be in the focus of discussion. In part, one of European MPs sharply criticised the report for keeping silent on the political influence of media moguls. The speaker pointed out that the tycoons have capitals and funds at their disposal, and therefore they are much more powerful than the entire states. However, the opinions of this deputy and other Russian law-makers passed unnoticed, save for the comments of the Yabloko faction representatives, underscored Buratayeva.

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