Boris Nemtsov’s death, yet another unsolved politically motivated murder - Hoofdinhoud
The European Parliament debated today the state of democracy in Russia after the murder of Boris Nemtsov, co-leader of our liberal sister-party, RPR-PARNAS.
MEP, Hans van Baalen (VVD, The Netherlands), ALDE Group spokesman on Russia and Ukraine, said the EU should keep sanctions against the Putin’s regime, but hold hands with people of Russia:
“Boris Nemtsov was our man, his party belongs to the ALDE Party. He wanted to make Russia a better place. As Mikhail Kasyanov said yesterday, here in Strasbourg, we should not look into the mirror and say we made mistakes such as NATO enlargement.
By contrary, NATO brought shelter to all the countries which joined the Alliance. It is up to Putin to make sure those who killed Nemtsov will be brought to justice. Sanctions against the regime should stay, but we must reach out our hands to the people of Russia.”
ALDE Vice-President, Petras Auštrevičius (Liberal's Movement of Lithuania), stated that the EU must show unity and determination when dealing with Kremlin:
"The atmosphere of hatred towards the West and hostility to open-minded people in Russia made this happen. It is a logical outcome of the policy line pursued for the last 15 years. The name of this is Putinism. Is this going to stop? It depends on us, the whole democratic world. Today, it depends first and foremost on our reaction to the war Putin waged against Ukraine. I really hope we will keep a united and strong position regarding Putin’s regime.”
The MEPs will vote tomorrow on a motion for a resolution on the murder of the Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov and the state of democracy in Russia.