Piotr Tolstoy is the deputy speaker of the Duma, the lower house of parliament in Russia. The politician was the guest of Thomas Gadisseux on the Première this morning to take stock of the situation in Ukraine. For this former journalist, Western sanctions do not scare the Russians. “We expected these sanctions, he said, as there had been when Crimea returned to Russia. It is a somewhat disproportionate reaction. The visa ban means that we cannot continue the dialogue with our European parliamentary colleagues. But above all it gives the impression that the authorities in Brussels are doing something. It is very important because in fact, they are not doing anything.”
“Every time they declare sanctions against Russia, it makes no sense and no value here, we don’t give a damn about these sanctions, in fact”he says.
The man explains that he does not recognize the Ukrainian democratic regime: “I just want to say that today we see that in the West hypocrisy and double standards in relation to everything related to Russia have gained ground. Today the West neither sees the violation of the human rights of the Russians who live in the independence republics nor the fire that the regular Ukrainian troops open every night against the mountains where peaceful, unarmed people live. You believe that it is only the European Union which is the guarantor of democracy and human rights. No! Russia will guarantee the natural rights of Russians living in Ukraine.”
Will the Russian soldiers cross the border and attack? “If Ukraine, in this very tense situation, gives a reason to act militarily, replies Piotr Tolstoy, Russia will obviously act militarily to defend the people who live in these independence republics.”