Russia will not participate in OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

The State Duma and the Federation Council of Russia have adopted a joint statement on the termination of participation of the Russian delegation in the operation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE PA).

As reported by the Russian Interfax, the statement says that "despite numerous appeals and proposals from the Russian delegation, the priorities of the OSCE PA leadership show that this platform is currently being used as a politicised tool for purposeful implementation of the anti-Russian course, instead of creating conditions for constructive exchange of opinions and forming a unifying agenda".

"For many years, OSCE PA has been ignoring the problems connected with violating the rights of national minorities in Ukraine and in Baltic countries, the freedom of communication and learning in their mother tongue, and has not been paying attention to the blasphemous idolization of Nazis and their supporters, oppression and assassination of journalists who have certain positions different from those formed in Brussels and Washington," the document says.

In addition to this, the delegation of the Russian Federal Council in the OSCE PA "was on many occasions deprived of the opportunity to continue the dialogue and to fully and equally participate in the operation of plenary meetings and assemblies of governing bodies of the OSCE PA under false pretences," the statement reads.

"The non-admission of the Russian delegation to the aforementioned events was the reason for adopting the only possible decision about the termination of the contribution to the budget of the OSCE PA. This termination was used to deprive its members of their right to vote, which does not give the representatives of our country the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process," Russian officials stated.

With that, "the last straw in the stalemate that is forming was Romania’s demonstrative refusal to issue visas for the members of the Russian delegation so that they could participate in the annual OSCE PA session in Bucharest in 2024," the statement reads.

In connection with this, Russian senators and State Duma MPs "consider it reasonable and logical to terminate the participation of the delegation of the Federal Council of Russia in the OSCE PA, as well as Russia’s contribution to the budget of the OSCE PA".

Recently, the Romanian government refused to issue visas for the Russian and Belarusian delegations for their participation in the annual session of the OSCE PA, which will be held in Romania from 29 June to 3 July.

Earlier, the Russian delegation refused to participate in at least two OSCE PA sessions – in the autumn of 2023 in Yerevan and in the winter of 2024 in Vienna. The Russian MPs were not present at the sessions in the UK and Canada in 2022 and 2023, either due to the absence of visas.

In July 2023, the OSCE PA adopted a declaration in which it called Russia a state sponsor of terrorism.

At the beginning of 2024, Russia announced the termination of its participation in the OSCE PA.

The Parliamentary Assembly unites 57 member states of the OSCE.