ПОСТІЙНА ДЕЛЕГАЦІЯ ВЕРХОВНОЇ РАДИ
УКРАЇНИ
ПАРЛАМЕНТСЬКІЙ АСАМБЛЕЇ
ОРГАНІЗАЦІЇ З БЕЗПЕКИ ТА
СПІВРОБІТНИЦТВА В ЄВРОПІ
(ПА ОБСЄ)
THE PERMANENT DELEGATION OF THE
VERKHOVNA RADA OF UKRAINE
AT THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF
THE ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND
COOPERATION IN EUROPE
(OSCE PA)
H.E. Ms. Margareta Cederfelt,
President of the OSCE PA,
Copenhagen
Dear Ms.Cederfelt,
Dear friend,
I am writing you regarding the upcoming 22th Winter meeting of OSCE PA
scheduled for 23-24 February 2023.
As you are well aware, on the 24
th
of February it will be one year since the russian
federation has launched a full-scale war of aggression against my country. A decision
to start this invasion was widely supported by the russian parliamentarians, including
all members of the russian delegation to the OSCE PA.
This constitutes a gross violation of international law, including the Helsinki
Final Act, and their unlawful actions were immediately addressed by the international
community through imposing personal restrictive measure on them.
In the meantime, we have learned that the Austrian authorities are willing to
issue visas to the members of the russian delegation. Accordingly, the russian
parliamentarians will attend the Winter meeting.
We have no doubts that the russian delegation will use the OSCE PA platform
for justification of the aggression against my country as well as for whitewashing
numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the Ukrainian
people. All this will undermine the integrity of the Assembly and will compromise a
clear and steadfast position the Assembly has, so far, demonstrated with regard to the
russian aggression since 2014.
In view of this, we do not find ourselves in a position to attend the Winter
meeting in case of russia’s participation. Such a position was
expressed by the entire
Ukrainian Parliament in its Appeal of February 6, 2023, to the Parliamentary Assembly
of the OSCE and the parliaments of its member states regarding the unacceptability of
the participation of members of the parliament of the russian federation in the work of
the Assembly's statutory bodies.