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Russia’s upper house speaker urges ban on introduction of sanctions against legislators

Due to this reason, the next meeting of the parliaments’ speakers will be held in Vienna rather than in New York

GENEVA, June 30. /TASS/. Speaker of the Russian Federation Council (upper house) Valentina Matviyenko has called on parliaments across the word to adopt a ban on slapping sanctions against parliamentarians.

During her speech at the headquarters of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva, Matviyenko said: "I think we should further unite efforts of all parliaments to ensure the recognition that the introduction of any sanctions against parliamentarians is unacceptable."

Matviyenko noted that she backs the decision of the Inter-Parliamentary Union not to hold the World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments in those countries, which slap restrictions on the participation of all national delegations. Due to this reason, the next meeting of the parliaments’ speakers will be held in Vienna rather than in New York.

The upper house speaker recalled that in 2015 she did not obtain a visa for participation in the World Conference of Speakers of Parliament from the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s member-states in New York over being on the US blacklist.

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Valentina Matviyenko

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