MOSCOW, November 19. /TASS/: Chairman of the State Duma (lower house) Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky took to Telegram on Friday to lash out at the resolution proposal submitted to the US Congress seeking to end Vladimir Putin’s recognition as president if he remains in office beyond the end of his current term in 2024, branding it a provocation and populism. What’s more, American lawmakers should focus on their own antiquated electoral system.
"What can I say? More provocations, populism and political PR, but clearly, this does not originate from any great intellect or any competence. If this resolution is adopted by the House of Representatives, even with its recommendatory nature, the process of a possible restoration of Russian-American inter-parliamentary cooperation (and that as a whole) will be dealt a severe blow," the senator wrote.
Focusing on the content of the resolution, he noted that lawmakers "somehow perceive violations in the adoption of the amendments to the Russian Constitution and call a number of them illegitimate, interpreting certain provisions in their favor." "Apparently, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Wilson believe that they have much more power than the entire Russian people, and that they know better," Slutsky stated.
The chairman of the State Duma Committee stressed that the congressmen criticized the vote on amendments to the Russian constitution, claiming it was allegedly non-transparent. "It seems that they have described the presidential elections that took place in their country. We witnessed mail-in voting, when it was possible to send in a ballot in advance, suspicious changes appeared in the vote counts, and those who publicly opposed the results ended up behind bars," he recalled.
"The authors of this piece should deal with the US presidential election and their own archaic electoral system at first. Calls for not recognizing Russia’s 2024 election if Vladimir Putin runs for president, nor acknowledging a victory in the elections would constitute direct, brazen interference in Russia’s internal affairs," the senator concluded.
Earlier, US Congressmen Steve Cohen (Democrat, Tennessee), along with Joe Wilson (Republican, South Carolina) introduced a Congressional Resolution to the House of Representatives to end recognition of Vladimir Putin as president of Russia if he remains in office beyond the end of his current term on May 7, 2024.
