Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the 137th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU) in Saint Petersburg that imposing sanctions against lawmakers is a counterproductive step, Sputnik reports.
"Unfortunately, we see that the attempts to limit the direct contacts and communication among lawmakers have been made more and more often recently, I mean the practice of imposition of discriminatory restrictions and sanction lists, which often include lawmakers. We regard this practice as inadmissible, harmful and just foolish," Putin said.
Both the system of international law and the culture of interstate dialogue have been eroded, he said.
"The parliaments all around the world, as the representatives of the people's will, play a landmark, important, sometimes a major role in the elaboration of national development models and, of course, in the search of adequate responses to the modern challenges and threats that are common to us all. I attribute to them [challenges and threats] the erosion of international law and the culture of interstate dialogue among them."
"We [Russia] will steadily follow the path toward the development of democratic, representative institutions, to increase the authority and the importance of the judiciary," Putin said.
When commenting on the Russian operation in Syria, the Russian president has reiterated his call for creating a united front against terrorism.
The fight against terrorism should be conducted wihout resorting to double standards and use of radicals, Putin said.
"We are confident that it is necessary to fight against terrorism without double standards, without hidden agendas, without the use of radicals for anyone's political interests and, of course, only by joining hands, only together," he said.
