The Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council met with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.
Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev paid a working visit to Baku, Azerbaijan, where he attended the 6th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue.
Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev met with President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. Chair of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Compatriots Abroad Leonid Kalashnikov also took part in the meeting.
According to Konstantin Kosachev, the meeting participants praised the high level and dynamics of Russia-Azerbaijan relations. The Deputy Speaker noted that the President made extremely constructive remarks at the opening of the 6th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, also known as the Dialogue for Peace and Global Security.
“I believe the part where the President of Azerbaijan spoke about preventing modern neo-colonialism was particularly concordant with the course that Russia currently promotes,” Konstantin Kosachev said.
The Deputy Speaker also met with First Vice Speaker of the National Assembly (Milli Mejlis) of Azerbaijan Ali Huseynli and Chairman of the Mill Meijlis Committee on Foreign and Interparliamentary Relations Samad Seyidov.
A broad range of issues concerning interparliamentary relations were discussed. In particular, the participants spoke about promoting the agreements that the speakers of parliament houses in the CIS had reached on the sidelines of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly’s autumn session in Bishkek in November 2023. The parties also compared notes on the schedule of Russia-Azerbaijan interparliamentary contacts and talked about regional security.
Participation of Azerbaijani school students in the upcoming stage of the Train of Memory cultural and educational project was a matter of a specific discussion.
The Deputy Speaker addressed participants of the Lawmakers’ Role and Advanced Legislative Practices for Preserving Cultural Heritage Interparliamentary Conference.
The legislator noted that preserving the historical and cultural legacy is a priority for the global community.
Konstantin Kosachev spoke about Russia’s efforts to preserve, promote and pass on the tangible, non-tangible and spiritual values, and about support measures available to individuals, companies and public associations willing to contribute their work, time and funds into restoring monuments.
The parliament member encouraged his colleagues to share experience, and stressed that Russian lawmakers are open to multilateral dialogue and close cooperation.
During the conference, Konstantin Kosachev was forced to respond to remarks by Deputy Speaker of Verkhovna Rada Olesya Kondratyuk. The Ukrainian legislator departed from the topic and went on a tirade against Russia, with false accusations concerning the special military operation. The Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council of Russia quoted a report by Ukrainian Language Commissioner Taras Kremin, according to which only three schools in Ukraine still teach the Russian language and the number of students learning Russian has decreased from 455,000 to 768 people in the past two years. “And this is happening in a multimillion country where at least half of the population consider Russian their mother tongue or use it in everyday life.” Konstantin Kosachev also spoke about oppressing religious freedom in Ukraine, including persecution of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Russian Orthodox Church by Ukrainian authorities.