Ukrainian MP Oleksey Goncharenko on PACE & Russia

Interview

The Russian Federation has paid RUB 70 million. It is a good price for a death license and they still kill Ukrainians in Ukraine, Georgians in Georgia, Britons in Salisbury, - Ukrainian MP Oleksey Goncharenko said at a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where the issue of Russia’s voting rights was discussed. The Ukrainian MP also posed a question to Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, who spoke at the session as the transitional president of the Council of Europe. The Georgian Institute for Security Policy (GISP) got the chance to speak to Goncharenko soon after.

This was the first PACE session under Georgian presidency. What were your impressions of it, and of President Zurabishvili's performance?

I cannot say I see any difference at the moment, differences are hard to achieve, but I believe and I hope that Georgia will come with some initiatives during the time of its chairmanship in the Council of Europe. I asked the Georgian President about new sanctions, one of the initiatives I think should come from the Georgian side. Unfortunately, she did not answer. In general, it was a long speech about many issues. There were some questions in the assembly but the speech was too long and there was not enough time to ask questions, because only limited people got to speak to her.

Your own speech was typically very critical of Russia's role in Georgia and Ukraine. Do your comments fall on deaf ears in Europe?

Those people who live closer to the Russian Federation understand me clearly. Those who live further away have a different reaction. So, while some were coming and thanking us, saying that they support us, others were unhappy, saying that they are tired of listening to speeches about Russia. Today, Russia and Putin are the biggest challenges for the security of the whole world, so that is why I think they should listen to it and we need to speak out. We should do so constantly and permanently.

What was the Georgian delegation’s take?

I was strongly supported by the Georgian delegation: they were the ones who voted against the certification of Russian credentials. Also Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, almost the whole of Poland, and Sweden. In the Ukrainian delegation, of 12 people there was one from the pro-Russian party who voted for and all others were against.

How would you rate the efficiency of the sanctions and what would your argument be to those who don’t think they work?

Sanctions really do work, and you can see it by the reaction of the Russian Federation, which is struggling and investing a lot of money to get rid of them. Dmitry Medvedev said that sanctions were the biggest problem for the Russian economy, so they do work. That is why they should continue their influence on the Russian Federation and I think we need new sanctions. That is what I asked President Zurabishvili and I think we all need to fight for this.

By Vazha Tavberidze for GISP