INTERVIEW: Russia, Slovenia exchange messages for first time in four years — MFA

MOSCOW: The speakers of the Russian and Slovenian parliaments have exchanged messages for the first time in four years, Russian Foreign Mini...

MOSCOW: The speakers of the Russian and Slovenian parliaments have exchanged messages for the first time in four years, Russian Foreign Ministry Second European Department Director Yury Pilipson said in an interview with TASS.

Commenting on plans by Slovenia’s new National Assembly speaker, Zoran Stevanovic, leader of the Resni.ca party, which is critical of EU policies, to visit Moscow, Pilipson welcomed this evidence of sound judgment among European politicians who "advocate restoring dialogue with Russia."

"In this regard, we note the exchange of messages between the speakers of the Russian and Slovenian parliaments - the first such exchange after a four-year hiatus that, we recall, arose at Ljubljana’s initiative," the diplomat said.

At the same time, he noted that organizing a meeting between the heads of the highest legislative bodies required "a substantive agenda and a real prospect of resuming bilateral interparliamentary contacts, severed by the Slovenians."

"We should also bear in mind that setting Slovenia’s foreign policy falls within the remit of the country’s government. However, statements about us by Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa and Foreign Minister Tone Kajzer still reflect the anti-Russian doctrine of the European Union and NATO. Therefore, we should harbor no particular illusions about the swift restoration of normal relations with Ljubljana," the diplomat concluded.

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