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Forum of Russian, Belarusian Regions to be held online over resurgence of COVID-19 cases

The essential part of the forum will not be changed

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/. The 7th Forum of the Regions of Russia and Belarus scheduled for September 28-29 will be held through video conferencing, and the mutual decision was caused by a spike in coronavirus cases, the upper houses of the Russian and Belarusian parliaments said in statements simultaneously posted on the houses’ sites on Saturday.

"The events of the 7th Forum of the Regions of Belarus and Russia will be held as a video conference on September 28 and 29. The decision was made at bilateral consultations due to the recorded increase in the novel coronavirus cases (COVID-19, the disease caused by novel coronavirus - TASS) and recommendations issued by Rospotrebnadzor (the Russian sanitary watchdog -TASS)," the statements said.

Apart from that, they state that "there are technical capabilities to back the required level of communications."

"Therefore, the essential part of the forum will not be changed. The program of the 7th Forum of the Regions of Russia and Belarus will be implemented," the statements of the Russian Federation Council and the Belarusian Council of the Republic say.

The statements pointed out that the organizing committee had agreed that the format of a video conference "will be adequate to the epidemiological situation and will not put the health of Russian senators, members of the Council of the Republic and other participants at extra risk."

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

Later, Chair of the Federation Council Committee on the Rules of Procedure and Parliamentary Governance Vyacheslav Timchenko confirmed to TASS that the delegation of the Federation Council would not go to Belarus to attend the Forum of Regions, but would work remotely from the Federation Council. 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.

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