Russian delegation to OSCE PA refuses to discuss Ukrainian resolution on Crimea

Russian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly considers draft resolution on annexed Crimea, proposed by Ukraine, to be biased.

This was stated by Head of Russian delegation to OSCE PA Nikolai Kovalev, RIA Novosti news agency reports.

According to Kovalev, the draft resolution “on violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Crimea, violation of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people”, submitted by Ukraine, was examined at the Standing Committee of the OSCE PA on Sunday.

“We made a statement, saying that the document is completely biased, slanted, has pronounced anti-Russian character, and, therefore, is not subject to editing,” the Russian side stated.

Kovalev said that the Russian delegation had refused to participate in discussion of amendments to the document as it was completely biased.

He also added that Russia did not agree with such interpretations in the wording as “systematic violations of human rights”, “the situation is deteriorating,” and so forth.

According to Kovalev, Russia’s stance was supported by the French delegation.

“By the way, the [draft] resolution mentions that observers are not allowed to visit Crimea. Nothing of the kind, we said, please, come and see for yourselves. And the French said exactly the same: before adopting this resolution it is necessary to go there, to see the situation, make conclusions and only then pass it,” he informed.

“We agreed with this approach. However, taking into account the anti-Russian sentiment in the committee on the whole, the resolution was approved for consideration at the plenary session, what will be done tomorrow,” Kovalev said.

The political committee of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted the resolution on peacekeeping operation in Ukraine.

As Ihor Popov, the Ukrainian MP and a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the OSCE PA, posted on his Facebook page, the members supported the amendments to strengthen control of the borders, provide access of international missions to all facilities in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Crimea and Sevastopol, and to urge the participating countries to continue economic and political sanctions against Russia to fulfill international requirements and to stop the illegal occupation of Crimea.

“We managed to defend the position of calling for an international peace-keeping operation in Ukraine, correct wording concerning the Malaysian Boeing, the status of Crimea and respect for territorial integrity,” he added.

As reported, more than 10,000 people have been killed for over two years of the armed conflict in Donbas. More than 20,000 people have been injured.