VIENNA, February 24. /TASS/. OSCE PA’s President Christine Muttonen has supported Russia’s idea to organize at the Parliamentary Assembly a special anti-terrorist committee, Russian legislator said on Friday.
"We have agreed to intensify the anti-terrorist work, making it a basic strategic task, as all others are superior now," member of the Russian delegation and OSCE PA Special Representative on Anti-Terrorism Nikolay Kovalev told TASS after a meeting between the Russian legislators and the OSCE PA’s speaker. "The idea on having a special committee is supported."
The meeting highlighted "general warming towards Russia," he said, adding "that was the opinion shared by both sides."
The sides also focused on "neutrality and objectivity," he continued.
"This is what Russia has been stressing for a long time. What we need is - if there are claims, they should be objective and should be presented by both parties," he said. "Unfortunately, in the past they used to be one-sided only: Russia is to blame of everything and that’s it."
"Now, even in the format of inviting to speak (during discussions at the PA session) we can see the Russian delegation is not discriminated, and this is a positive change in work of the Parliamentary Assembly," he said.
On February 23, the Russian lawmaker, who used to be head of the Russian intelligence service, FSB, said he had made the suggestion several years earlier. "Terrorism is expanding, the territory of evil is growing, while we are running late," he said.
The winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly kicked off in Vienna on Thursday.
Russia’s delegation, led by Pyotr Tolstoy, features MPs of all factions of the lower house of parliament and six members of the upper house, the Federation Council.