Lawmaker says OSCE resolution on inadmissibility of anti-MP sanctions is Russian victory

MOSCOW, July. /TASS/. Head of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Nikolai Kovalyov has called the assembly’s adoption of a resolution on the inadmissibility of sanctions against lawmakers a victory of the Russian delegation.

"Common sense has won the upper hand and this resolution has been passed. We consider it as a serious victory of the Russian delegation at this session," he told TASS from Tbilisi over the phone on Monday.

He said the resolution initiated by speaker of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house Sergei Naryshkin speaks about "inadmissibility, unlawfulness of sanctions against lawmakers of any level during international events."

"A country imposing such sanctions actually impacts the composition and the strength of the delegation, i.e. it may either allow a lawmaker to enter or deny entry depending on its attitude to this person. And, as a matter of fact, it is an absolutely inadmissible violation of the norms of international law," he said, adding that members of the Ukrainian delegation tries to block this resolution.

Russia's initiative to set up anti-terrorism committee

According to Kovalyov, the delegation has come up with an initiative to set up a special anti-terrorism committee within the organization.

"I came up at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly plenary session with an initiative to set up a special anti-terrorism committee that will be task with legislative regulation of this process and, what is most important, it will coordinate actions in this sphere," Kovalyov, who is taking part in the session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Tbilisi, told journalists on Monday over the phone.

According to the Russian lawmaker, the assembly’s leadership voiced no objections against this initiative. In his words, the assembly’s president hailed the initiatives as worthy of paying attention to.

Apart from that, Kovalyov said that on the sidelines of the session Russian lawmakers met with the Israeli delegation and agreed on "cooperation in the sphere of combating terrorism." "Israel understands the danger of this phenomenon and is ready to cooperate in a full scale," he said.

Now, "the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s international secretariat will analyze this initiative and will look at rules of the procedure," the Russian lawmaker said. "If it takes a positive decision, I think it will first be considered by the standing committee and later it will be referred to an assembly’s session which has the authority to take a decision on the establishment of another committee.. If the anti-terrorism committee is finally established, I think it will be a step in the right direction.".