Russian parliamentarians attempting to attend the annual OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, to be held in July in Birmingham, have been denied visas by the U.K. government.
“Since all members of Russia’s Federal Assembly are on the U.K. sanction list, we have asked the [OSCE Parliamentary] Assembly’s leadership, as well as the Russian Foreign Ministry beforehand to look into the issue and to secure Britain’s guarantees our legislators will be granted visas,” explained Sen. Vladimir Dzhabarov, the First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council’s Committee on International Affairs. “Regrettably, we received an outrageous reply [that] the British government cannot issue visas to Russia’s delegates to the OSCE PA whatever the purpose of their visit.”
