Russian vice-speaker voices astounding proposal

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Feb 17 2005

The Russian Duma (parliament) vice-speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky says
that the most appropriate solution for the problem over Upper Garabagh
would be its entering the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Zhirinovsky said that Moscow is afraid of taking either side in the
conflict settlement to avoid hurting their interests.

He added that neither Azerbaijan nor Armenia will ever accept losing
Upper Garabagh.

“Upper Garabagh is a historic territory and a part of Armenia, which
is called ‘Artsakh”, he said.

Such statements were made by the Russian vice-speaker before with
regard to the Turkic states, in which he even resorted to insulting
entire nations. Russian media report that Kazakh prosecutor general
Rashid Tusupbekov has forwarded a letter to his Russian counterpart
Vladimir Ustinov requesting to hold Zhirinovsky criminally accountable.

In January, the Russian vice-speaker told “Echo of Moscow” radio
station that “the state of Kazakhstan has never existed in the entire
history of the mankind”.

The Milli Majlis (parliament) first deputy chairman Arif Rahimzada
regarded the statement as nonsense. He did not rule out that this
statement may be put on discussion in the Azerbaijani parliament,
since it was made by the second top official of the Russian parliament.