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Calls for world peace can feel a bit cliché, so one pro-Putin Slovakian MEP decided to make his memorable by whipping out a dove.
Miroslav Radačovský, from the far-right Slovak Patriot party, hid the bird in a bag under his suit jacket as he took to the podium at the European Parliament on Wednesday.
It was his last speech before the EU-wide elections next month, so he wanted to make it memorable by releasing the dove as he called for peace between Russia and Ukraine.
He said: ‘I would like to wish the whole of Europe, the whole of the world, the Russians and the Ukrainians, I wish everybody peace.
Miroslav Radačovský tried to walk off like he hadn’t just released a bird indoors (Picture: Reuters)
‘And if I may, I would like to set free this dove as a symbol of peace, to symbolise that Europe needs peace.
‘Let’s let this dove fly above all of Europe. Let’s let this dove unite all of us. Let this dove, a symbol of peace, let us realise that what we need most is really peace.’
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The politician, whose country borders Ukraine, then switched from Slovak to English as the white bird perched on a desk before flying away.
He added: ‘We need peace. All Europe needs peace.’
Fellow MEPs took out phone to record the spectacle, but Radačovský’s stunt didn’t go down well with others in the chamber in Strasbourg.
The dove perched on a desk (Picture: Reuters)
One person asked, ‘Can you catch it as well?’, as Radačovský tried to walk off with the dove still flying around.
Caroline Roose, an MEP for the French Greens, immediately expressed concern for the bird’s wellbeing.
Raising a point of order, she said: ‘Mr President, a reminder of the rules.
‘He used an animal, which was hidden in a pocket like a simple object, just to make a peace statement today.
‘What are you going to do now to get this animal back? Where is animal welfare in this speaker’s gesture? I find this absolutely unacceptable.’
Fellow MEPs may have been gripped by the spectacle, but some weren’t impressed (Picture: Reuters)
The parliament’s vice president Jan-Christoph Oetjen, of the liberal German Free Democratic Party, replied: ‘I agree with you and we will report this incident to our president and we hope that the animal will be all right.’
Radačovský is one of Putin’s top ‘henchmen’ in the European Parliament according to Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
The publication listed him as the 13th most pro-Putin MEP based on his voting record on resolutions related to Russia’s human rights violations, the Ukraine war, and anti-Russian sanctions between 2019 and 2023.
In November 2022, he voted against a resolution declaring Russia a state ‘sponsor of terrorism’ over its war in Ukraine, Al Jazeera reported.
He previously called for peace in an interview with Russia’s Voice of Europe propaganda channel, although he later told Politico: ‘I don’t know who is Voice of Europe.’
One of the channel’s executives is Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian oligarch and longtime friend of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The UK government has imposed sanctions on Medvedchuk.
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