Стр. 10 - V

Author : K. Kosachev
Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, Candidate of Science (Law)
"THE WORLD is made of achieved Utopias. Today's
utopia is tomorrow's reality," said Frederic Passy, win-
ner of the first Nobel Peace Prize and one of the two
co-founders of the oldest international parliamentary
organization.
The idea of bringing together members of parliament
from different countries for a joint effort in the name
of peace and international cooperation was first ex-
pressed at the end of the 19th century. Parliamentarians
from Austria, Spain, France, and Britain discussed the
idea of an international assembly that would act primarily as an arbitrator in the settlement of
international disputes.
WHAT IS THE SECRET of the IPU's longevity and attractiveness? After all, Stalin, as a prag-
matic politician, was right: the decades-long history of the IPU has not been marked by any mo-
mentous decisions. The strength of the Inter-Parliamentary Union lies elsewhere. Parliamentary
diplomacy is meant to play a very important, if not a key, role in building bridges of friendship
between states on both a bilateral and a multilateral basis.
Russia intends to continue working on the IPA CIS platform in the Inter-Parliamentary Union
in matters of participation by IPA CIS members in the activities of IPU organs, submission of
internationally important topics for discussion and subsequent adoption of IPU resolutions, and
the possible accession to the Inter-Parliamentary Union of CIS states not yet participating in its
activities.
The role of the IPA CIS is also important in another context. Now that it has acquired the status
of an IPU associate member, there is a real opportunity to make Russian an official language of
the IPU. This idea was expressed during Valentina Matviyenko's meeting with IPU leaders at the
133rd Assembly in Geneva in 2015, and there is reason to believe that this initiative will be pro-
moted in the near future.
RECENT FOREIGN POLICY EVENTS clearly demonstrate that it is impossible not only to
isolate Russia or exclude it from the global decision-making process, but also to implement such
decisions unless we play a key role. Obviously, the boycott of Russia has failed. Russia has always
fully exercised the privilege to follow a sovereign and independent foreign policy. The task of
parliamentarians is to help establish working contacts at various forums even in cases where the
very "right to dialogue" is called into question.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union should maintain its unique fundamental character as a global
forum for parliamentarians. And even if the "mountain" (the IPU) has never, for objective rea-
Электронное приложение к журналу «Международная жизнь»
The Inter-Parliamentary Union: Will the Mountain Bring Forth a
Mouse or Interference in Non-interference?