3 Apr 2023 18:39

Duma council resolves to suspend payment of OSCE PA fees

MOSCOW. April 3 (Interfax) - The Duma council has resolved to suspend the payment of budget contributions to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA), the website of the Duma, citing its speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, said on Monday.

"Today, the Council considered the matter of Russia paying contributions to the OSCE PA budget. It has been decided to suspend the payment of 2023 contributions and to re-offset for this year the contribution Russia paid in 2022," Volodin was quoted on the website as saying.

He said there were attempts to hinder the Russian delegation's work in the OSCE PA. "We should not pay for what we did not take part in. If we are further prevented from working this year, we will demand to be refunded the contribution paid before," Volodin said.

For his part, Pyotr Tolstoi, head of the Russian delegation, said: "We should not be paying for what we are not taking part in" and that the delegation had already been refused visas and thus is unable to attend the summer session in Vancouver.

Russia's position on the matter had been "agreed on and supported by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Tolstoi said.

"In a situation where we are being gagged, not only shall we not pay, but we will also make them return what has already been paid. With interest. We'll find where to direct the freed-up money," Tolstoi said on Telegram on Monday.