The newly established, informal platform “Friends of Free Russia” was launched online at European level on Monday, March 22. The new platform is launched in cooperation with the Forum of Friends of European Russia, led by Andrii Kubilia, a Lithuanian MEP and standing rapporteur on Russia for the European Parliament.
During the meeting, not only was a new Czech initiative to support Russian democracy and free-minded Russians presented, but also aspects of the new European policy towards the Russian Federation were discussed. To this end, Senator Marek Hilšer and MP Jan Lipavský spoke on behalf of the Czech side, presenting the activities of the Friends of Free Russia as well as the current Czech debate on Russia and various aspects of bilateral relations between the two countries. In addition, Leonid Volkov – Chief of Staff of the Russian opposition Alexei Navalny – participated in the debate, describing the behaviour of the Putin regime and also how the EU should respond to it.
In addition, several members of parliament from France, Poland and Lithuania took part in the debate on the parliamentary dimension of the European position towards Russia. French Senator André Gattolin spoke of the extremely worrying level of European relations with Russia, as well as the need to establish an international interparliamentary assembly to deal with Russia on an systematic basis, as in the case of China and the IPAC community. French MP Jacques Maire, who is also a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), head of the ALDE faction and rapporteur on the Alexei Navalny poisoning report, spoke about the need for a thorough investigation into Russian crimes and the possibility of new sanctions against the Russian delegation in the Council of Europe. Polish Senator, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the EU and former Minister of National Defence Bogdan Klich also recalled the security dimension of mutual relations and the need for closer cooperation with NATO. Finally, Matas Maldeikis, Member of the Lithuanian Parliament and Chairman of the Group for Relations with Democratic Russia, reminded of the need for more robust actions against the Putin regime and opening up to Russian society at the same time.
The discussion was moderated by Pavel Havlíček, a member of the Friends of Free Russia platform and the coordinator of the non-profit sector, an analyst at the Association for International Affairs (AMO) and the coordinator of Russian research within the MapInfluenCE project.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
