Russian lawmakers to consider declaration on 1989 'annexation of East Germany'

© RIA Novosti, Vladimir Fedorenko

14:18 28/01/2015

MOSCOW, January 28 (RAPSI) - Sergei Naryshkin, the speaker of the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, has asked the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs to look into the possibility of adopting a declaration which denounces the reunification of Germany in 1989, RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday.

The proposal was made at a State Duma session by Nikolai Ivanov, lawmaker from the Communist Party. He suggested adopting the declaration in response to allegations of Anne Brasseur, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), that Russia annexed Crimea.

Ivanov claims that no referdum was held on reunification of Germany which implies that East Germany was annexed.

The Russian delegation's voting rights in PACE were suspended last April over the situation in Ukraine.

Naryshkin slammed the decision. Crimea, a largely Russian-speaking republic, opted to break away from Ukraine and moved toward Russia after a referendum had been held, he said. 97% of Crimea's residents voted for joining Russia, according to Naryshkin.

President Putin signed a decree last March recognizing Crimea as an independent state. Later Putin and the leaders of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol signed a treaty on re-unification of Crimea with Russia.

Following the logic of those who call this historical event an annexation, the Federal Republic of Germany annexed East Germany, Naryshkin said.