By Vestnik Kavkaza
Leonid Kalashnikov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee for International Affairs, speaks about double standards in settlements of different conflicts ahead of Vladimir Putin’s visit to France on June 5-6. Unfortunately, at the moment it concerns Ukraine. The Ukrainian crisis negatively influences relations between Russia and its Western partners, as they have different views on its settlement.
According to Kalashnikov, “everybody, especially diplomats, speaking about a diplomatic settlement, call for a settlement of the crisis as soon as possible. However, the question is how to do it. I hoped that after the presidential elections, whether the president is legitimate or not is a different question, but at least two simple steps would be taken: military activities would stop, at least from the governmenta side; people from Donetsk and Lugansk, who are thought to be illegitimate by the government, would be invited, and negotiations would start. This is a very simple decision, which lies in the field of practical and visible decisions. However, it didn’t happen. Why didn’t international community react to this? It is a mystery to me. They consider the issue through a position that only one side is right and it will act as it wants.”
Kalashnikov refers to Libya: “I was a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly at the time, the peacemaking operation “No-Fly Sky” took place. At the same time, France supplied rebels with arms and didn’t hide that. I asked the head commander of the NATO army in Europe: “Why do you ignore this? There is a resolution which was adopted before the 1973 resolution which forbade supplying any side of the conflict with arms. Why don’t you react?” Silence was his answer. These are double standards, which are present in settlement of any conflicts. Unfortunately, it concerns Ukraine today.”
“If Yanukovych had sent not only troops, but also air forces to Ivano-Frankovsk for bombing, the international community would have gone nuts. Why can Yatsenyuk and the Interior Minister do it toward their own people today? Even if Russia participated in the conflict, as France participated in Libya, what would the international community do? It must react appropriately to obvious use of military force in the conflict. I can’t see this at the moment. All calls for a diplomatic settlement drown in victims. I hope time will pass, and different accents, different assessments will appear, as happened in the Georgian-Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhazian conflicts. But, unfortunately, many people would die before this,” Kalashnikov says.
