Stefanchuk, Inter-Parliamentary Union president discuss security issues

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk and President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Duarte Pacheco have discussed the issues of further cooperation, security in Ukraine and the threat of Russian aggression.

The Ukrainian speaker said this at a joint press briefing with Pacheco, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"All the issues we discussed were unanimously supported. This is an issue of territorial integrity, an issue of Ukraine's sovereignty, an issue of ensuring the security of our state. We discussed with the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union some issues related to the threat of Russian aggression, issues related to the parliamentary dimension of the Crimea Platform, issues related to the deployment of inter-parliamentary diplomacy, support from friendship groups, support from the Inter-Parliamentary Union and other international organizations,” Stefanchuk said.

According to him, special attention was paid to the issues related to expanding the dialogue between Ukraine and the Inter-Parliamentary Union in terms of security, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.

“In addition to our dialogue within the Inter-Parliamentary Union, I thanked Mr. Pacheco for our cooperation with Portugal, the country he represents," he added.

"It was an extremely valuable meeting, and your personal support, the support of the Inter-Parliamentary Union for Ukraine is extremely important. We appreciate it very much and are very grateful for it," he said.

In turn, IPU President Duarte Pacheco called for respect for the right of each country to freely decide its future and assured of readiness to help establish a dialogue between Ukraine and Russia.

“The Inter-Parliamentary Union is ready to help establish this dialogue between Ukraine and Russia to resolve differences between you," Pacheco said.

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