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Head of Russian delegation to OSCE PA says Ukraine not ready for dialogue

At the same time, he pointed to the success the Russian delegation had achieved during talks with the delegations form the United States, France and Italy

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, February 25. /TASS/. Ukraine is not ready for dialogue with Russia and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR, LPR), head of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE PA) Pyotr Tolstoy said.

After meeting with the Ukrainian delegation members on the sidelines of the OSCE PA winter session, Tolstoy, who is deputy speaker of the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament), said that "OSCE PA Secretary General Mr. Montella took me over to meet the head of the Ukrainian delegation, we exchanged a few words but our Ukrainian counterparts chose to operate propaganda clich·s. All in all, no dialogue is possible for now. Unfortunately, we can see that the current Kiev regime is not ready for dialogue with Donbass as well, it is not ready to speak with the DPR and LPR. It seems, only time can make our Ukrainian counterparts change their stance," Tolstoy said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

At the same time, he pointed to the success the Russian delegation had achieved during talks with the delegations form the United States, France and Italy. "I think, we will now take active steps in order to build inter-parliamentary dialogue with our European counterparts," he said.

According to Tolstoy, the Russian delegation "has been very productive at the parliamentary assembly session." "We have succeeded in explaining Russia’s position to our counterparts and drive out some clich·s concerning the developments in Ukraine and Russia’s role in the conflict, that the European politicians are used to. In particular, during a meeting with the delegation of the US Congress, we agreed to continue an open dialogue on the issues that divide Russia and the US."

"We had a very candid conversation, the atmosphere was positive. The meeting was initiated by the US delegation. The US congressmen and senators thanked us for the opportunity to meet and discuss the issues that divide us. They are many, and we will work on them. The main thing is, the work will be restored on the parliamentary level," Tolstoy stressed.

The winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly was held in Austria’s capital of Vienna on February 23-24. The Russian delegation was headed by State Duma Deputy Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy, member of the United Russia party faction. The delegation comprised representatives of all the lower house factions as well as six members of the Federation Council (upper house of parliament).

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