ArmInfo. So far, it has not been possible to organize such discussions on international platforms. This is already a success from this point of view, but it is still difficult to say about the effectiveness of these discussions. This was stated by the head of the "Enlightened Armenia" faction Edmon Marukyan, referring to the inclusion of the issue of Armenian prisoners of war in the agenda of the PACE spring session.
At the same time, Marukyan is convinced that this is a good opportunity to put pressure on Azerbaijan to release the Armenian prisoners of war as soon as possible. He believes that the discussions will be interesting, and only through international pressure on Baku can this issue be resolved.
Speaking about the vote of the Russian delegation in PACE on the issue of including the issue in the agenda of the session, Marukyan stated that they were surprised by the vote of the representatives of the Russian Federation.
"The fact that the vote on this issue was separate is a fact. But we were surprised by the vote of the Russian side. But since the Russian side participates in the meeting in a hybrid form, that is, they did not arrive in Strasbourg, and vote from Moscow, some technical problems could arise. Our delegate Ruben Rubinyan has already contacted the Russian side, and they assured that there was a technical error.
But today, the Russian side will have the opportunity to demonstrate with their speeches that they are for the speedy return of the Armenian prisoners of war. After all, Russia supports the trilateral statement at the level of the executive branch, and it has obligations to make every effort to return the Armenian prisoners of war," Marukyan said, adding that this has been repeatedly stated both at the level of the Russian president and the Russian Foreign Minister.
According to him, it was for this reason that they were surprised by such a vote, since the positions of the executive and legislative authorities of Russia differed. Marukyan also believes that the answer to this question should be given by the Russian side.
It is noteworthy that the media have been replicated screenshots where the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Housing Policy and Housing and Communal Services Sergey Pakhomov (UNITED RUSSIA faction), to clarify why the Russian delegation to PACE did not support the inclusion of the issue of Armenian prisoners of war in the agenda, noted that during the vote on this issue, there was a technical failure of the entire delegation. "We don't really believe in coincidence either. We have submitted a corresponding application, " Pakhomov said.
It should be noted that the question "Armenian prisoners of war, other prisoners of war and displaced persons"was put to the vote in PACE the day before. This was done after Azerbaijan opposed the inclusion of this issue in the agenda of the spring session of the Assembly. 93 delegates voted" for "the inclusion of the question, 21 voted" against", and another 18 abstained.
The official website of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has published the results of the roll-call vote on the issue of including the issue of Armenian prisoners of war in the agenda of the spring session on an emergency basis.
According to these data, of the 21 PACE delegates who voted "against", as can be seen from the results, 8 represent Turkey, 6 - Azerbaijan, 5 - Russia, including the head of the Russian delegation Leonid Slutsky and former figure skater Irina Rodnina, 1 delegate each from Hungary and Serbia. Another 7 members of the Russian delegation abstained, and none of its members voted in favor. It is noteworthy that one of the members of the Turkish delegation voted "for" the inclusion of the issue in the agenda. The discussion will take place this afternoon. The information that the Russian side did not vote " for " the inclusion of the issue in the agenda caused a negative reaction in the Armenian society. Many broke out with harsh criticism of the "strategic allies", while others tried to justify these actions by saying that the issue was allegedly a package issue and included, among other things, a clause related to the Russian opposition leader Navalny.