MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. The Russian delegation will not participate in the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (PA OSCE) in Helsinki despite calls from PA OSCE President Ilkka Kanerva, Russian State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin said on Thursday.

"I received a letter from PA OSCE Chairman. He urges [the Russian delegation] to participate in the work of the Parliamentary Assembly, but our answer was unequivocal - we consider it impermissible to lower the level of Russian representation at the session of the Parliamentary Assembly, a very important session devoted to the 40th anniversary of adopting the Helsinki Final Act," Naryshkin, who planned to head the Russian delegation, said.

Finnish parliamentarians did not react to the announcement that the Russian delegation will not participate in the PA OSCE session in Helsinki, Naryshkin noted.

On Wednesday, the Finnish Foreign Ministry said that Naryshkin was denied entry to Finland to participate in the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (PA OSCE) in Helsinki due to take place on July 5-9. The decision was explained by the fact that the State Duma speaker was included in EU’s "blacklist" of sanctioned officials.

Naryshkin later announced that the Russian delegation as a whole will not participate in the PA OSCE session in Helsinki, where it planned to put forward draft resolutions on impermissibility of sanctions against parliamentarians and countering Nazism rehabilitation. However, the Duma speaker confirmed that Russia plans to participate in the next PA OSCE session in Mongolia’s capital Ulan Bator.