Russian MP Alexey Pushkov Meets Members of European Parliament

"There is no military solution to this war," declared Alexey Pushkov MP, Chair of the Committee on International Affairs of the Russian Duma on Monday at the European Parliament with regards to the ongoing conflict in Eastern Ukraine. He had followed an invitation by PN member Elmar Brok MEP, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs.

"The European Parliament has always considered relations with Russia to be important," said Elmar Brok (EPP, DE), Chair of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee, stressing the need for peace in Europe: "We do not want to go back to the situation of the last century with wars again and again", to "go back to the ravages of the past." However, "the misperceptions we could have had are no ground for attacking the sovereignty of a country", he stressed.

"This war can go on for a long time at a low level of intensity" but it can also "enlarge itself and start to really represent a big problem for the European security," Mr Pushkov told MEPs, referring to the possibility of deliveries of arms by the US to Ukraine. "There is no military solution to the war," he said and welcomed the plan presented by Chancellor Merkel of Germany and President Hollande of France.

Within the political solution, "the status of (Eastern Ukrainian) territories is crucial," Mr Pushkov underscored. "This area has to have a special status" and Ukraine "cannot remain a unitary state," he said. "Donbas must remain part of Ukraine" but people there "have to be given guarantees of security," he also told MEPs and suggested that if the EU and its member states were to guarantee the ceasefire on the side of the Ukrainian government, then Russia could "exercise its influence" over the "insurgents".

In the debate, many MEPs pointed to Russia's responsibilities in putting an end to the violence in Ukraine. Many criticised its failure to respect the Minsk agreement and expressed doubts as to whether a new agreement could be very different from the text of the September protocol. They also wondered whether there were any legal arrangements between Russia and the separatists in terms of arms deliveries and criticised Russia for not respecting its commitments under the Budapest memorandum on security assurances to Ukraine, the Helsinki Final Act and other international treaties.

Some MEPs pointed to Russia’s refusal to guarantee access to its territory to Members of the European Parliament, while a minority referred to what they see as an US intervention in Ukraine and its influence over the EU policy vis-a-vis Russia.

"Russia must accept it is part of the conflict," said Mr Brok, adding that "there has been an annexation, Russian soldiers and weapons are in Ukraine." He concluded that "to have the peace in Europe we have to have the international law applied".

While MEPs highlighted the need to respect international law and commitments agreed upon under the September Minsk protocol, Mr Pushkov called for changes in international law because of Western double standards, BBC reports. He said that if Nato's 1999 Kosovo intervention was treated as a "special case" then "there are lots of exceptions, in that case we can say that Crimea is also an exception". Mr Pushkov said that Russia would "not change its decision" on Crimea, BBC reports.

After the debate at the European Parliament, he said that many MEPs were ignorant of the true situation in Ukraine and that "Kiev is beyond criticism in the eyes of most deputies [in Strasbourg].” According to Mr. Pushkev, "[w]hen you present the real facts they don't know how to respond... They have very limited access to information. We need to change that, and such contacts do have a certain impact.”

The plenary of the European Parliament debates the latest developments in Ukraine with the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Tuesday, February 10, 2015, and members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs will meet Volodymyr Groysman, Speaker of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada, on February 24.

Click here for the full press release from the European Parliament.

Click here for BBC’s full article “Ukraine crisis: 'Don't arm Kiev' Russia warns US”.

Photo courtesy of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.