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The Russian delegation left the meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in protest against the violation of the rules.
“If you want to work by the rules, you need to follow them. If you want to make politicized decisions, we cannot participate in this, ” the head of the Russian delegation, Pyotr Tolstoy, said at the meeting.
According to him, the assembly violated the rules prescribed in its regulations. We are talking about making decisions by two-thirds of the votes of the assembly members, and not by two-thirds of the deputies who take part in the meeting online or in person.
Tolstoy noted that two resolutions were included in the plan of the meeting on June 6. One of them, concerning the assessments of Russia’s actions regarding Ukraine and Crimea, gained the support of only 126 members of the assembly. The second resolution condemning the actions of the Belarusian authorities against the opposition was supported by 122 members.
Tolstoy believes that the decisions taken by 120 votes are illegitimate. He also stressed that the Russian side wants dialogue, not confrontation.
The OSCE Assembly consists of 323 parliamentarians from 57 states.