20 countries urge Austria not to issue visas to the Russian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

The OSCE PA session is scheduled to take place on February 23-24 in Vienna. The Associated Press reported that 81 delegates from 20 countries signed a letter demanding that Russians not be allowed to attend.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, Egidijus Meilūnas, reported on the preparation of such an initiative.

Poland, France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, the Baltic, and Nordic countries joined it. At the same time, the US delegates did not sign the letter.

The Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the country does not send invitations to participants. Austria did not choose the venue of the event, the assembly itself did it. There is a cooperation agreement between the OSCE and Austria, according to which the country must facilitate the arrival of delegations. At the same time, if the session of the assembly took place in another country, it would be possible for the Russians to be denied visas.

Among the members of the Russian delegation is Pyotr Tolstoy. Earlier, he called for the destruction of the entire civilian infrastructure of Ukraine.