In Geneva, during a speech by the Speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko at a conference of parliament speakers, dozens of delegates left the hall in protest.
The corresponding video was published by the Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Olena Kondratyuk, who represents Ukraine at the Speakersʼ Summit.
The video shows several dozen members of the delegations leaving the hall in connection with Matvienkoʼs speech. The Russian woman was forced to speak to an almost empty hall.
Meanwhile, Ukrainians are protesting against the arrival of the Russian delegation at the UN building. They have been protesting there every day since July 28.
Babel spoke with one of the participants in the action, Ukrainian Volodymyr Ryabchun. He said that currently Ukrainians are organizing small pickets of 5-6 people. They did not have time to apply for a larger action, because the arrival of the Russian delegation came as a surprise to them.
"Today there were about 30 of us, but we are in different locations. [...] No one expected that they would be invited to the forum in the third year of a full-scale war and sanctions," he noted.
Volodymyr is outraged that Russian officials under sanctions were able to come to the EU for a visit.
"We ask that Europe not give Russia, the murderers, a place in these forums at this event. We are against hosting them," he added.
What preceded
On July 28, it became known that a Russian delegation led by the Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko arrived in Switzerland to participate in the sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments and other events of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Matvienko, among other things, was to speak at the conference as part of the discussion "A World in Turmoil: Parliamentary Cooperation and a Multilateral Approach to Solving Problems in the Name of Peace, Justice, and Prosperity for Everyone".
At the same time, she, like several other Russian delegates, is included in the sanctions lists, which Switzerland has also joined. However, the country does not restrict entry to its territory for participants in the activities of international organizations whose headquarters are located in Switzerland.
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