First Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Alexander Zhukov claimed that both Russian and Germany “agreed that such an important project as Nord Stream 2 should be implemented”, after meeting with German Bundestag deputies in Berlin, Tuesday.
SOT, Alexander Zhukov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma (Russian): “In my opinion, the meeting was very fruitful. We agreed to develop our inter-parliamentary ties in all areas. Both the State Duma and the Bundestag have very large friendship groups.”
SOT, Alexander Zhukov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma (Russian): “We discussed how the existing sanctions certainly harm our trade and economic relations – that’s the first thing. And our colleagues in both of the meetings clearly spoke in favour of Russian rights being restored in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and for these sanctions to be lifted.”
SOT, Alexander Zhukov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma (Russian): “We also exchanged views on important issues such as economic cooperation. We agreed that such an important project as the Nord Stream 2 should be implemented and our German colleagues expressed a firm belief that this project will benefit both Russia and Germany, and despite the known political pressure from the United States, this project should still be implemented.”
SOT, Pavel Zavalny, Chairman of the Energy Committee (Russian): “I raised a direct question about how expedient the participation of the Russian delegation is in the PACE [Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe] when we do not have the right to vote, so the expediency is simply lost and we cannot convey our point of view, the view on the problems and their solutions to a wide range of deputies and representatives of different countries of the PACE Assembly. And the view that it is wrong was clearly supported, that the regulations have to be changed, that it is necessary to restore Russia’s rights to be able to communicate, because the basis of mutual understanding is dialogue. And having this dialogue of understanding is the way to trust. Therefore, we must communicate, we must restore trust, and only on the basis of trust make decisions to address the most problematic issues of relations between Russia and the European Union.”