MINSK, February 7. /TASS/: Belarus believes that discussions of Ukraine in the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly should be based on Russian position, rather than some "contrived simulacrums," Andrey Savinykh, chairman of the permanent commission on foreign affairs at the Belarusian legislature, told TASS on Tuesday.
"Of course, the participation of the Russian delegation is very important, and we are waiting for the speech of our Russian colleagues, who will present objective information about what is happening in Ukraine now. And I think that this position should become the starting point of further discussions, and not some contrived simulacrums that are spread by nobody knows who and nobody knows where," he said.
The 22nd winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will be held on February 23-24 in Vienna. The conflict in Ukraine is set to be the main topic. The fall session of the OSCE PA was held in Warsaw from November 24-26, 2022. Then, the permanent committee of the OSCE PA was unable to make a decision on the termination of Russia's membership in this organization. In protesting that turn of event, the Ukrainian delegation was joined by representatives of Lithuania and Estonia, according to the Yevropeiskaya Pravda news outlet. The Russian delegation was unable to fully take part in the fall session due to Warsaw's refusal to issue entry visas.
This year, the Austrian Foreign Ministry said that the country is bound by international law to issue visas to participants in OSCE events. Visas issued to members of the Russian delegation will be valid only in Austria and only during the winter session of the PA.
