Russian State Duma, Federation Council announce suspended participation in OSCE PA, payment of contributions
MOSCOW. July 3 (Interfax) - The State Duma and the Federation Council adopted a joint statement on Wednesday to suspend participation of the Russian Federal Assembly's delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
"Despite the repeated appeals and proposals of the Russian delegation, the priorities of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's leadership indicate that, instead of creating conditions for a constructive exchange of views and elaboration of a unifying agenda, the venue is being used as a politicized instrument for the purposeful implementation of the anti-Russian course, including the intentional distortion of cause and effect relationship of events unfolding in Ukraine," the statement said.
The Russian parliamentarians "attest the utmost degree of degradation of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly as a mechanism of inter-parliamentary cooperation," it said.
"For years, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has been ignoring problems stemming from violations of the rights of ethnic minorities in Ukraine and the Baltic countries and the freedom of communication and education in a native language, and has been paying no attention to the blasphemous glorification of Nazis and their accomplices, as well as harassment and murder of journalists whose stance differs from those of Brussels and Washington," the statement said.
The Russian Federal Assembly's delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly "has been repeatedly denied the opportunity to continue dialogue and full-scale, equal participation in plenary sessions and activities of ruling bodies of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly under far-fetched pretexts," it said.
"The fact that the Russian delegation was barred from the said events predetermined the only possible decision to suspend the payment of contributions to the budget of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. The pause was used as a pretext for depriving its members of the voting rights, which prevented representatives of our country for participating in the decision-making process," the statement said.
"The final straw in the dead-end situation was the demonstrative refusal of Romania to issue visas to Russian delegation members so that they could attend the annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Bucharest in 2024," it said.
"The potential for further constructive dialogue in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly was fully spent under the circumstances," the statement said.
Therefore, the Federation Council and the State Duma "believe it would be justified and natural to suspend participation of the Russian Federal Assembly's delegation in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the payment of contributions of the Russian Federation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly budget," the statement said.
"Over the period of suspended participation, any changes to the assembly regulations of procedure aimed to harm the Russian delegation will be considered null and void," it said.
At the same time, the parliamentarians voiced the readiness to resume participation in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly "on condition that its leadership and certain member states reconsider Russophobic and discriminatory approaches to pressing European security issues," the statement said.
Earlier on Wednesday, State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Leonid Slutsky said that Russia's contributions to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly exceeded 250,000 euros per year.