MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/. Russia’s delegation will take part in a session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Austria in February, a senior Russian lawmaker said on Friday, adding that it is highly likely that the issue of Russia’s expulsion from the organization will be raised again.
"Now, we are making efforts to obtain visas. I think everything will be OK. We are ready for any discussions. We will not become hysterical but will be informing those present about our position clearly and firmly," Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy chairman of thee international committee of Russia’s Federation Council (upper parliament house), said in a video interview with the Parliamentary Newspaper.
According to Dzhabarov, Russian lawmakers are aware that at the entrance to the building where sessions are held they "will be met with opposition from Ukrainian refugees, who will be chanting all sorts of slogans," but they are not afraid of that. "We are sure that the Austrian side will spare no effort to ensure the security of this event," he said.
He recalled that in November, several anti-Russian countries tried to change the voting procedure ultimately seeking to expel Russia from the organization but these attempts failed. "Now, they will try again to do something to expel Russia. I don’t think they will succeed. Such an attempt will be made but it will fail. Because there is a situation they will not be able to overcome under any conditions," he stressed.
He also noted that "Austria has voiced a firm and quite wise position" in response to the calls to deny entry visas to the Russian delegation.
The 22nd winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will be held in Vienna on February 23 through 24. In November 2022, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Standing Committee failed to make any decision on terminating Russia’s membership in the organization. According to the European Pravda media outlet, representatives from Lithuania and Estonia joined the Ukrainian delegation’s protests. The autumn session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly was held on November 24-26, 2022 in Warsaw and was not supposed to pass any resolutions. The Russian delegation could not fully participate in the session due to the visa denial by Warsaw.