Russian, Ukrainian Parliamentarians to Meet Friday

VIENNA, April 10 (RIA Novosti) – Members of the Russian and Ukrainian parliaments plan to meet in Vienna on the sidelines of Friday’s session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a source in Russia’s lower house of parliament told RIA Novosti on Thursday.

“A meeting is planned on the sidelines of the PA OSCE,” the source said.

The two sides are expected to discuss bilateral relations, Alexander Fokin, a member of the Russian delegation to the OSCE PA told RIA Novosti.

“The meeting will focus on issues concerning Ukraine-Russia bilateral relations,” Fokin said, adding that Russia will be represented by officials informed about the situation in Crimea and Ukraine.

Another European legislature, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), is expected to debate a motion on Thursday to strip the Russian delegation of its powers over Moscow’s stance on Crimea.

The assembly claims that by violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity, Russia jeopardized international security and stability. The chief Russian delegate to PACE, Alexei Pushkov, has promised that if the question of terminating Russia’s powers is put to a vote, the country’s delegates will immediately walk out of the assembly.

“We will not tolerate the expulsion. If the issue is put to a vote, we will withdraw from PACE at the same minute. And the assembly will lose a lot if Russia does not hold its seat in the organization,” Pushkov said.

In February, the Ukrainian parliament, backed by far-right groups, ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, amended the constitution and scheduled an early presidential election for May 25.

Moscow has described the uprising in Kiev as an illegitimate fascist coup and a military seizure of power, which resulted in it taking steps to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine, including the reunification of Crimea. It blames the ongoing crisis in the country on Ukrainian nationalists and their aggressive rhetoric.

Moscow has insisted that a federal form of government is the only way out of the protracted political stalemate in Ukraine, currently a unitary state which is de-facto split into a Ukrainian-speaking west and a Russian-speaking east and south.