The authorities’ obsessive promotion of the line "we’ve already ratified it" continues, and we keep running into this claim while monitoring the media.
It’s rather strange. Even now, after statements by Zorkin from the Constitutional Court and so on, I can see only one explanation: if they abandon this line now, it would mean that the head of the presidential administration, Ivanov, who said it on the record, is an idiot.
Since it is apparently impossible to admit that Ivanov’s aides (or whoever it was) told him something stupid and he simply repeated it, they will probably keep insisting on it. That is actually good, because it means the opponents of ratification are spouting obvious nonsense.
It is very easy for us to dismantle this nonsense, and I’d like to draw your attention to Sergei Parkhomenko’s excellent analysis.
He explained it in an even simpler and more accessible way on his program on Echo of Moscow (a Russian radio station), and for that he deserves thanks.
Give it a read — it will come in handy if you end up arguing about this issue.