OSCE Cannot Exclude Russia From Parliamentary Assembly, But Will Try - Lawmaker

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2022) The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) cannot exclude Russia from the Parliamentary Assembly, but Western countries and Ukraine will still keep trying to achieve this, Russian lawmaker Sergei Tsekov told Sputnik on Saturday.

Kiev has decided to boycott the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly until is excludes Moscow, Ukrainian news agency UNIAN reported on Friday, citing member of the Ukrainian delegation Yevheniia Kravchuk.

"They do not have capacities to exclude Russia, but they will look for them," Tsekov said.

Ukraine is trying to put pressure on the European Union in this matter, the lawmaker told Sputnik, adding that Kiev's proposals regarding Moscow "have always been negative." He also accused Ukrainian political elite of destabilizing international platforms.

Earlier in November, Vladimir Dzhabarov, the deputy head of the Russian delegation to the OSCE, said that Russian lawmakers had been denied visas to participate in an autumn session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Warsaw from November 24-26.

Later, the information was also confirmed by the Polish Foreign Ministry. Meanwhile, Nat Parry, the head of the OSCE Communications and Press Office, told RIA Novosti that the decision regarding the participation of the Russian delegation, whose members are under EU sanctions, had been made at a national level by the Polish authorities.

Western countries set the course for isolating Russia after it launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. They have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow and urged the international community to ban Russian officials and nationals from attending various events. Russian President Vladimir Putin has maintained that Russia can never be isolated.