Russia, Estonia to resume annual inter-parliamentary commissions
TALLINN. July 5 (Interfax) - Delegations from the foreign affairs commissions of the Estonian Parliament and Russia's Federation Council backed the idea of preparing a report on the Estonian-Russian future.
"If we now have such reports on our relations with Latvia and Finland, the same document can be prepared on our relations with Russia," head of the Estonian delegation and chairman of the parliamentary commission on foreign affairs Marko Mihkelson told the Estonian newspaper Postimees on Thursday, commenting on a two-day meeting which began in Puhajarve in southeast Estonia.
It was agreed at the meeting to hold such sessions of the two countries' commissions once a year, as was the case in 2003-2006, he said "Tomorrow we might clarify the place and time of another meeting," Mihkelson said.
The Russian delegation led by Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Mikhail Margelov has agreed with the proposal to prepare "a report on the future."
The last time a similar meeting between the Russian and Estonian parliamentarians was held in 2006. However, after the Estonian government made a decision to move the Soviet WWII monument (The Bronze Soldier) in April 2007, which sparked unrest among the country's Russian-speaking population, inter-parliamentary meetings were discontinued.