Russia thanks Mongolia for supporting its stance on inter-parliamentary dialogue

MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/. The leader of Russia's parliamentary lower house on Monday thanked his Mongolian counterpart for supporting the country’s position on inter-parliamentary dialogue, in particular, inadmissibility of interference in the work of international parliamentary organisations. "I thank you and all your Mongolian colleagues and friends again for a perfectly organised session of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), which took place in the Mongolian capital last week," State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin told the speaker of the State Great Hural, Zandaakhuu Enkhbold. Naryshkin praised the nature of discussions held on that high-level inter-parliamentary platform. "I know that most speeches contained words and thoughts about inadmissibility of freezing inter-parliamentary dialogue, and statements that no country has the right to interfere in activities of international parliamentary organisations, let alone dictate where and with whom they convene," he said. The politician stressed that the position taken by the European Union and Finland’s government ahead of July’s session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Helsinki was impermissible. "I thank our Mongolian counterparts for fully supporting our stance," Naryshkin said, noting that Enkhbold supported the work of an inter-parliamentary group on Ukraine, established on the OSCE PA platform on the Russian delegation’s initiative. "Unfortunately, the group has still not started its work. But Ukrainian and Russian parliamentarians met on the sidelines of the Parliamentary Assembly’s session in Ulan Bator and talked about implementation of the Minsk agreements and the parliaments’ role in resolving the most acute social and political crisis in Ukraine," Naryshkin said. Finland closed its doors to Naryshkin and five other members of the official Russian delegation on July 1, preventing them from attending an annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, scheduled to take place on July 5-9. The Finnish Foreign Ministry said entry was prohibited to Russian officials banned from travelling to the country under current EU sanctions imposed on Russia over events in Ukraine. Following the entry denial, the Russian delegation announced it would not go to Helsinki. "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," said Naryshkin, who planned to head the Russian delegation. Read more