Russia “terrorist state”, but the M5S in the European Parliament announces: “We are not voting on this resolution”

The decision of the 5 Star Movement delegation to abstain on the resolution of the European Parliament to recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism has rekindled the controversy. It is not the first time that the party led by Giuseppe Conte has been accused of excessive softness towards Russia. The pentastellato leader, in recent months, has repeatedly said he is against new shipments of weapons. This was one of the issues on which the Draghi government entered a crisis

«In Ukraine it is time to raise the tone of peace. The resolution that will be put to the vote today in the European Parliament goes in the opposite direction. Our solidarity with the Ukrainian people is total and we hold Russia solely responsible for the ongoing war on Ukrainian soil. Her army has also been guilty of atrocious crimes, however after more than nine months of open hostilities that have not spared the civilian populations, weapons must be silenced and diplomacy prevail. It is no longer the moment of confrontation. The great absentee from the text of the resolution of the European Parliament is the word peace and for this reason, while sharing the paragraphs of support for Ukraine, we cannot support it», explains the Cinquestelle delegation in a note.

“Our vote will be abstention. Putin has culpably violated international law, but every effort must be made to reach a negotiation between the parties and put an end to this horrible war. Let’s give it a try,” reads the note.

The vote in the Eurochamber will take place in the late morning and the outcome is hanging in the balance, weakened by possible divisions within the groups: the Strasbourg plenary will express itself on a resolution which defines Russia as a terrorist state and its approval is not so obvious. The text, presented by the Conservatives and Reformists, in the last few hours has sown more than one doubt – even in the main two groups of the Eurochamber, the EPP and the S&D – first of all on its juridical usefulness. In the end, the Socialists could vote in favour, but some defections are not excluded.

“There are no arguments to justify Russia’s war but the question is what does the fact that it is a terrorist state add, what tools does it bring us”, explain sources from the group led by Iratxe Garcia Perez. On Tuesday the groups talked about it at length. Even among the Popolari, in which on the one hand there are those who, like Andrius Kubilius, rapporteur of the Eurochamber for relations with Russia, suggest that a vote on the resolution could further isolate Moscow and on the other there are those who recommend a more caution. Prudence that, at the moment, the Greens group has also shown to have, while the first to come out into the open were the MEPs of the M5S, who announced that they will not support the resolution. Finally, an unknown factor is the position of the ID group, but among the sovereignists in the EU Parliament, the resolution will hardly obtain unanimous consent.