On 3rd April 2019, Ambassador Jayatilleka paid his second visit to the Federation Council, Upper Chamber of the Russian Parliament, to meet with Senator Dr. Andrey A. Klimov, Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee for Foreign Affairs, and Chair of United Russia party’s International Relations Commission which is part of the United Russia General Council Presidium, the party’s supreme governing body. Senator Klimov has been the Chair of the Federation Council Commission on State Sovereignty since its foundation in 2017, when Russia established this key legislative instrument for the first time in its modern history.
Senator Klimov thanked the Ambassador for the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas in advance of the Senator’s trip to Colombo, for ICAPP, followed by his participation in the Interparliamentary Union Assembly in Doha.
The Senator also thanked the Ambassador for his remarks at the inaugural meeting hosted by United Russia for the diplomatic community in March. Further, appreciating the fact that the Ambassador is a political scientist, he expressed his wish, on his return from Sri Lanka, to engage with the Ambassador on the issue of State Sovereignty.
Senator Klimov briefed the Ambassador on the Federation Council activity distinguishing it from the State Duma, the Lower Chamber of the Russian Parliament. The Federation Council is the supreme legislative body which, pursuant to the Russian Constitution, can authorize or veto the decisions of the Head of State to deploy the Russian Armed Forces outside the country.
Senator Klimov invited the Ambassador to participate in the tele-conference which will mark the final stage of the Festival Marathon, the UNESCO-led cultural initiative implemented under the auspices of the Russian Parliament: the 2019 Festival Marathon will cross several European countries, from Madrid through Paris, Belgrade, Sofia, and Tokyo and Vladivostok, in the Far East. The closing events in Vladivostok on May 20 will include an international conference, a platform for reflecting on the perspectives of international and regional relations, from Greater Eurasia through the Pacific.
In his response, Ambassador Jayatilleka proposed that the Federation Council Commission led by Dr. Andrey Klimov might wish to initiate a global dialogue on State Sovereignty as this key concept has become the crucial line of demarcation determining contemporary international politics.
