MOSCOW. Dec 3 (Interfax) - European parliaments should be aware that the provocation in the Kerch Strait and the declaration of martial law in ten Ukrainian regions put the European continent at the brink of a war, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said.
"The imposed martial law and the combat alert status of the [Ukrainian] forces put not only Europe, but the whole world at the brink of the war. I would like our colleagues from European parliaments to understand what it means, because the propaganda and the information they receive today distort the reality. We believe that our colleagues should learn the truth about the situation, about the incident that happened in the Kerch Strait," Volodin told reporters on Monday.
Russia's stance must be conveyed to foreign lawmakers, he said.
All members of the State Duma Council shared the opinion that the State Duma needs to adopt a statement addressed to parliamentarians of the world and international organizations, as well as inter-parliamentary ones, regarding the situation in Ukraine and the incident in the Kerch Strait.
"Today we see that European parliaments are hostages to the continuing propaganda, which, if you prefer, is pressuring them from every angle, as it happened in 'the Skripal case.' There is no truthful information and it is our duty to inform European parliaments, national parliaments of the Asian countries, and, of course, we will tell them what really happened," Volodin said.
"We believe that it is a provocation, a planned provocation, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is behind it. Wanting to cling to power personally, he is making every effort to eliminate his political opponents," he said.
Martial law was imposed in the ten Ukrainian regions, where Poroshenko has "lowest support and the highest rate of opponents," he said.
"We believe that it is an infringement on democratic values, believe that it is inadmissible in the European house today and it would be right if our colleagues from European parliaments understand what this is about," Volodin said.