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Russian senators not to visit Belarus for Forum of Regions due to coronavirus - senator

He added that Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko would deliver a speech at the forum via a video call

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/. A delegation of the Federation Council (the upper house of Russia’s parliament) will not go to Belarus to attend the Forum of Regions, but will be participating from the Federation Council through video conferencing, Chair of the Federation Council Committee on the Rules of Procedure and Parliamentary Governance Vyacheslav Timchenko told TASS on Saturday.

"It is true that nobody will go to Belarus, but the participants in the forum will be working via a video call from the Federation Council. The decision has been taken in the wake of a deteriorating situation with coronavirus," Timchenko explained.

He added that Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko would deliver a speech at the forum via a video call. According to Timchenko, there is no political underpinning behind the senators’ decision to participate in the forum remotely and it is not related to the developments in Belarus.

"It is an epidemiological situation alone, as there are absolutely no other reasons to hold the forum as a video conference. We believe that the election [in Belarus] was held worthily, the people’s choice was made, so we continue contacts, but there are no grounds to search for a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no [cat] there," Timchenko emphasized.

Earlier, a source at the Russian parliament told TASS that the Russian delegation would take part in the Forum of Russian and Belarusian Regions remotely. According to another source, the decision was caused by the deteriorating situation with COVID-19.