News briefing by members of the Ad Hoc Commission on Protecting State Sovereignty and Preventing Interference in the Domestic Affairs of the Russian Federation.
Andrei Klimov, Chair of the Ad Hoc Commission on Protecting State Sovereignty and Preventing Interference in the Domestic Affairs of the Russian Federation, and Oleg Melnichenko, Head of the Commission’s Monitoring Group and Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Federal Structure, Regional Policy, Local Government and Northern Affairs, have held a joint online briefing.
Andrei Klimov reported the results of the Commission's performance in the first quarter of 2021. The senator offered examples of interference in Russia’s internal affairs and spoke about the preparation and adoption of key legislative initiatives aimed at protecting state sovereignty.
According to him, foreign states are increasingly trying to use representatives of civil society in Russia, in particular, to influence the work of the Ad Hoc Commission and to obstruct and disrupt the process of legislative regulation.
According to the senator, informational online platforms are planning to play a major role in this. “A huge amount of content related to this topic in the Russian segment of the internet has to do with the replication, under different headlines, of the same statements from the media outlets that are foreign agents,” the parliamentarian said quoting a conclusion reached by experts from the Institute for Strategic Research and Projection of the RUDN University.
Andrei Klimov also spoke about the work on the draft concept of an international convention on the prevention of interference in sovereign affairs. “This work continues together with other countries that share the fundamental principles of international law.”
Oleg Melnichenko outlined the areas of activity of the Monitoring Group in the context of attempts at external interference in the process of preparing and conducting the State Duma election. “Certain forces in the West are using parliamentary elections, not only in Russia, but also in many countries, as an opportunity to destabilise and sway the internal political situation,” the senator said.
According to him, it is the task of the authorities to guarantee the free expression of the citizens’ will, and to protect the electoral process from interference by foreign countries, and their information and political institutions.
“Such attempts are being made all the time; the media outlets that are foreign agents are being used for these purposes. All these actions will be carefully recorded by the Monitoring Group of the Ad Hoc Commission, and analysed at the Federation Council; we will assess such actions and develop appropriate approaches to improving legislation to prevent similar actions in the future,” the senator said.
Andrei Klimov and Oleg Melnichenko answered questions from journalists and internet users during their briefing.
In particular, the questions concerned attempts to influence children and adolescents through social media, the involvement of social media in unauthorised political action, as well as measures to prevent the possibility of using religious and ethnic issues to instigate conflicts, encourage nationalism and separatism, and distort and falsify history.
“In this and in other cases, the media, online platforms, and social media must fully comply with the requirements of Russian legislation. We already have some positive experience of cooperation in this area. This work will be continued,” Andrei Klimov noted.
Various aspects of Russian-American relations and current international concerns were also discussed.