Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced plans on Tuesday to discuss foreign IT companies and their business practices, as well as the issue of "digital sovereignty" with Rik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and his colleagues from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th March, 2021) Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced plans on Tuesday to discuss foreign IT companies and their business practices, as well as the issue of "digital sovereignty" with Rik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and his colleagues from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
"We will discuss [with CSTO representatives] how foreign IT companies have no regard for national laws and rights of local citizens when conducting business. The issue of 'digital sovereignty' is coming to the political forefront, it would be only right to also put it on the agenda for our meeting with the PACE president," Volodin told the press.
The State Duma speaker stressed that national laws protect the fundamental rights of citizens and cannot be ignored.
Concerning the upcoming meeting with the PACE president, Volodin noted that Russia has always been open to equal dialogue, with no double standards and based on mutual respect.
"However, if our colleagues think differently, we will not tolerate it," he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, PACE confirmed that Rik Daems was scheduled to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Russian Justice Minister Konstantin Chuychenko, upper chamber speaker Valentina Matviyenko and lower chamber speaker Viacheslav Volodin during his upcoming visit to Moscow from March 15-16.
