MOSCOW. Feb 27 (Interfax) - The people of Donbas have the same right to self-determination as the people of Kosovo and Crimea in accordance with the democracy standards, Pyotr Tolstoy, deputy speaker of the State Duma and head of the Russian delegation in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA), said.
"The delegates who spoke before me from the U.S. and Ukraine mentioned that democratic standards are not observed in some countries. We would like democratic standards to be understood in the same way and be the same to everyone, [we would like] the right to self-determination to apply equally to the people of Kosovo and residents of Crimea and Donbas. Democratic standards should not be different east of Vienna and west of Vienna," Tolstoy said in a phone conversation with Interfax on Friday, giving the gist of his speech at the OSCE PA session.
The parliamentarian said that "in Donbas we are talking about people's right to self-determination, their integral right to speak their language and choose their administration." These are undoubtedly basic European rights and values that are shared by all OSCE members, Tolstoy said.
Speaking about Russia's position on the Ukrainian crisis, Tolskoy said: "It remains unchanged: we insist that Kyiv should go back to the Minsk agreements and the observance of their political part. No progress in bringing peace to this country is possible without that," Tolstoy said.