MOSCOW, July 11. /ITAR-TASS/. An inter-parliamentary contact group for Ukraine will be formed shortly, the head of the Russian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Leonid Slutsky said.
Earlier, the Izvestia daily wrote that Russia’s State Duma Speaker Naryshkin had agreed to represent Russia in the OSCE PA group for Ukraine.
“The newly elected chairman, Ilkka Kanerva, asked me to be head of Russia’s delegation, and I agreed,” Naryshkin said. “I hope that the contact group will start working shortly - till the end of the month,” he said.
Slutsky said on Friday it was rather logical that the lower house speaker would represent Russia. “He (Sergei Naryshkin) initiated the idea. Of course, he will coordinate Russia’s participation,” Slutsky said.
“This will be a working group and there is no need for participating in it at the level of heads of parliament. In order to start the work, the consent of Verkhovna Rada Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov is indispensable,” Slutsky said.
The inter-parliamentary group for Ukraine was set up at the OSCE PA session in Baku at the end of June on the initiative of the Russian State Duma speaker. The group will involve 10-12 representatives of the OSCE member-states. The purpose of the group is to present recommendations on the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine and to inform the OSCE about the events in the south-east.