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Russian lawmaker calls new OSCE PA chief sensible, reasonable politician

Russia hopes for a calm dialogue at the parliamentary level
Austrian deputy Christine Muttonen EPA/ZURAB KURTSIKIDZE
Austrian deputy Christine Muttonen
© EPA/ZURAB KURTSIKIDZE

THESSALONIKI, July 5 /TASS/. Russian State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said on Tuesday that Austrian deputy Christine Muttonen, the newly elected president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, was a reasonable and sober minded politician and that the Russian delegation had voted for her.

"Our delegation had supported and voted for Austria’s representative," Naryshkin told journalists. "We know her as a reasonable, sensible and calm politician," the Russian State Duma speaker stressed.

"We hope to conduct a calm dialogue, a dialogue at the level of our parliament and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly," Naryshkin stressed. "Time will show what will come of it," Naryshkin concluded.

Christine Muttonen was elected the new OSCE Parliamentary Assembly president on Tuesday. Alexei Pushkov, the head of the Russian State Duma Committee for Foreign Affairs, has described her election as the victory of moderate Europe over the aggressive anti-Russian part. Besides, the fact that Christine Muttonen comes from a neutral country, which is not a NATO member, is also positive in Pushkov’s view. Pushkov believes that neutral countries are capable of playing the most productive role in establishing a pan-European inter-parliamentary dialogue.

A day earlier, on Monday, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly passed a resolution providing unlimited access of all parliamentarians to the OSCE events.