MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia will participate in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly summer session in the Finnish capital of Helsinki, Russian lower parliament speaker Sergei Naryshkin said Tuesday.
“This summer there will be a [Parliament Assembly of the OSCE] session in Helsinki. We will participate together and prepare several initiatives for this and count on your support of course,” Naryshkin said during a meeting with Kyrgyz Supreme Council speaker Asylbek Jeenbekov.
Before the 2014 Ukrainian conflict, Russia was actively cooperating with European lawmakers through the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly PACE. But last January, the 47-member Council’s deliberative body agreed to prolong a ban on Russia’s voting rights. In turn, the Russian delegation vowed to stay away from PACE meetings and reenergize its work with the OSCE.
