We need to jointly defend digital sovereignty and resist attempts to interfere in internal affairs, including in information and political processes – Vyacheslav Volodin

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In his speech during the remotely held meeting of the Council and the 13th plenary session of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly on November 30, Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly and Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, reminded that “the priority of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly is the approximation and harmonization of national legislation.”

Mr Volodin also recalled that in 2020 the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly pursued the seven priorities of CSTO’s Russian presidency set by Vladimir Putin, Chairman of the CSTO Collective Security Council and President of the Russian Federation.

“This includes, above all, imposing legal conditions for the safe and stable development of the CSTO Member States in accordance with the 2025 CSTO Collective Security Strategy,” said the Chairman of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly.

Speaking about the main work priority of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, Vyacheslav Volodin stressed that model legislation must serve as a platform for common solutions to strengthen the collective security system established within the CSTO.

According to him, to date, the Assembly’s law-making portfolio contains 69 model acts, 35 of which have been developed under the 2016–2020 Action Plan on Approximation and Harmonization of Legislation of the CSTO Member States.

The CSTO PA Chairman noted that one of the most important tasks of the Parliamentary Assembly was to promote the ratification of treaties signed by the heads of the CSTO Member States.

“Not all countries have completed ratification procedures have not been completes,” reminded Vyacheslav Volodin, “out of 56 treaties, four have not been ratified. Everything must be done to implement the decision of the Collective Security Council to create a single list of organizations recognized as terrorist,” said the CSTO PA Chairman.

Speaking about the 2021–2025 Action Plan on Approximation and Harmonization of Legislation of the CSTO Member States, Mr Volodin noted that it plans to develop 29 model acts: “It reflects the proposals of CSTO Member States’ parliaments on regulation of digital field, economic security, information protection, countering terrorism, extremism and organized crime.”

Besides, it is planned to develop recommendations concerning general principles regulating the design of AI and robotics, the Internet, generation and use of Big Data.

“We need to jointly protect the digital sovereignty of our states, to resist attempts to interfere in internal affairs, including in information and political processes,” said Vyacheslav Volodin.