VR offers to suspend involvement of Russia, Belarus in statutory bodies of OSCE PA

The Ukrainian Parliament has endorsed draft resolution No. 8396 ‘On the Appeal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE and Parliaments of Its Member States Regarding the Inadmissibility of Involving the Members of Parliaments of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus in the Statutory Bodies of the Assembly’.

A total of 322 Members of Parliament voted in favor of this decision, an Ukrinform correspondent reports, referring to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

“The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is calling on the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE and the Parliaments of its Member States to approve changes to the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, which would suspend the powers of members of the OSCE PA, the representatives of the Parliaments of Member States that violate the principles of the OSCE and commit an act of armed aggression against another Member State of the Organization, to make a decision on such suspension of powers in relation to members of the parliamentary delegations of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, as well as to continue further reforming of the Organization,” the document reads.

In addition, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine urged the Parliaments of Member States to refrain from cooperating with the representatives of Russia and Belarus in the statutory bodies of the OSCE PA; to request that their Governments impose visa restrictions on the Members of Parliaments of Russia and Belarus, who have been sanctioned by the European Union; to recognize Russia as a terrorist state and increase sanctions pressure against it.

According to Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk, it is necessary to do everything to isolate Russia from the civilized world.

“The Ukrainian parliament considers it hopeless, worthless and impossible to hold an inter-parliamentary dialogue with the representatives of the parliament of the terrorist state, which continues temporary occupation and makes further attempts to annex part of the territories of Ukraine,” Stefanchuk wrote on Facebook.

In his words, the appeal of the Verkhovna Rada is reasonable, as Russia violates the principles of the OSCE.

“It is a terrorist state that has been conducting an unprovoked full-scale war against Ukraine for about a year,” Stefanchuk stressed.

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