MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On July 1, Finland denied issuing entry visas to a group of Russian lawmakers on the EU sanction blacklist, including the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, Sergei Naryshkin. The parliamentarians intended to take part in the summer session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. In protest, the Russian delegation withdrew from the session.
In mid-July, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto in a telephone conversation that there was no legal basis for Finland’s decision.
“Of course, we’re following this and following it closely, as we’re talking about representatives from the senior levels of government of the Russian Federation,” Peskov told journalists in Moscow.
In early June, the head of Russia’s Federation Council's press service said that Matvienko had been invited to attend the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament at the United Nations' Headquarters.
“But let’s see first and not discuss hypothetical questions,” Peskov said.
