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PACE political groups' heads may visit Russia on July 20-21 — Russian MP

A Russian lawmaker does not rule out that the heads of PACE political groups will once again raise the issue of sending observer to the Russian elections
Alexei Pushkov, the chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma  Alexander Scherbak/TASS
Alexei Pushkov, the chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma
© Alexander Scherbak/TASS

THESSALONIKI /Greece/, July 4. /TASS/. Heads of political groups of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) may visit Moscow on July 20-21 to discuss prospects for resuming the assembly’s relations with Russia, a Russian lawmaker said on Monday.

"An issue of a visit by the heads of PACE political groups to Moscow on July 20-21 is being looked at," said Alexei Pushkov, the chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house, who is on a working visit to Greece as member of a Russian parliamentary delegation led by State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin.

Pushkov did not rule out that the heads of PACE political groups "will once again raise the issue of sending observer to the Russian elections."

"However, Russia’s position voiced by the State Duma speaker has until now been as follows: since our delegation is taking no part in the PACE work, inviting a PACE delegation (to monitor the elections) does not correspond to the current character of relations," he said.

PACE speaker Pedro Agramunt has twice visited Russia in the past 45 days. He attended a session of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in St. Petersburg on May 19-20 and a session of the General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) in late June in Moscow.