MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/. The State Duma and the Federation Council will simultaneously announce a move on February 21 to suspend their participation in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, while the lower house of Russia’s parliament will also do so in a separate gesture at a meeting later on Tuesday, a senior Russian lawmaker said.
"We will make this position clear once again when the [OSCE PA] meeting opens on February 21 as the State Duma and the Federation Council will hold parallel sessions. So, today, we are announcing this position so that legislatures in OSCE member countries are aware," said Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Russian State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee.
However, Slutsky said, Russia is not withdrawing from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), while it may revisit its decision on membership in the OSCE PA after completing the special military operation.
Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Volgarev said earlier that the Russian delegation will skip a traditional winter session of the OSCE PA in Vienna. The Parliamentary Assembly is "losing independence," he lamented, as it depends on the policy of individual OSCE member countries. Nor will Russia sponsor the activity of the OSCE PA unless its delegates are given guarantees of participation in all PA meetings in Vienna, the Russian envoy said.