Aleksandr Pankin: The role of parliamentary diplomacy in addressing relevant international issues is steadily increasing

“Under current circumstances the role of parliamentary diplomacy in addressing relevant international issues is steadily increasing: the involvement of parliamentarians makes this process more democratic, open to the public, while freer exchange of opinions compared to the official diplomacy organically complements the efforts of states to advocate their national interests within the framework of classical diplomacy. The CSTO Parliamentary Assembly’s work is a good example of such activity,” said Aleksandr Pankin, deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, in his remote address at the Coordination Meeting of the Heads of Parliamentary Delegations of the CSTO Member States to the OSCE PA.

He stressed that the global community lacks a unified view on ensuring the principles of international security. “The formation of a multipolar system that is currently taking place faces very aggressive resistance from Western states attempting to maintain their dominance, to keep the course of liberal and democratic values, to replace international law based on UN principles and goals with some kind of ‘rules;’ it adds to the confusion, but at the same time makes it clear that our Western colleagues clearly, persistently and consistently try to raise and ‘hype’ on the subjects they need. And, unfortunately, several of our states already encountered blatant attempts to smear and distort what is being done there.

At the same time, we should not forget that we have instruments, not only the CSTO, but also the CIS and SCO; these are platforms where we interact, where we have a rich experience of norm-setting and interaction on security issues. No one is left out in these formats; everyone’s interests are taken into account, and we come to a common denominator.

We would like to see a coordinated use of the parliamentary diplomacy potential at external platforms, so that parliamentarians, despite a wide range of their personal opinions or party views, could still consider the interests of all CSTO States and pursue a common line and speak with one voice.

The OSCE PA, of course, is an effective instrument of inter-parliamentary cooperation, but at the same time, we clearly observe the intention of using the assembly to promulgate unfounded accusations and put forward politicized decisions.

Coordinated preparatory work is needed so that our enemies do not split the voice of the CSTO parliamentarians.”