Russian and Ukrainian Delegations to OSCE Parliamentary Assembly meet to discuss crisis

VIENNA, 11 April 2014 – Members of the Russian and Ukrainian Delegations to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly met for talks today in Vienna on the invitation of OSCE PA President Ranko Krivokapic.

The Delegation members met in bilateral format, followed by tripartite talks that included a delegation from the OSCE PA's leadership.

The Delegations welcomed the opportunity to have an exchange of views on issues vital for the people affected by the current crisis and agreed to continue their talks aimed at defusing tensions.

Participants in the talks included:

OSCE PA leadership:

President Ranko Krivokapic (Montenegro)
Vice-Presidents Doris Barnett (Germany), Walburga Habsburg Douglas (Sweden) and Ilkka Kanerva (Finland)
Head of the PA Delegation to observe Ukraine's presidential election and Chair of the PA's Committee on Political Affairs and Security Makis Voridis (Greece)
Vice-Chair of the PA's Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions Mehmet Sevki Kulkuloglu (Turkey)

Russian Delegation to the OSCE PA:
Nikolay Kovalev
Oleg Lebedev
Marina Yakovleva - Secretary of the Delegation
Stanislav Antipin - Delegation staff
Ambassador Andrey Kelin

Ukrainian Delegation to the OSCE PA:
Oleg Zarubinskyi
Mykola Katerynchuk
Olena Bondarenko
Oksana Kaletnyk
Volodymyr Nakonechnyi
Oleksandr Stoian
Iryna Ievmenchykova - Secretary of the Delegation
Ambassador Ihor Prokopchuk

OSCE PA Secretariat:
Deputy Secretary General Semyon Dzakhaev
Special Representative Amb. Andreas Nothelle

The meeting was proposed by OSCE PA Vice-President Doris Barnett, the Head of the German Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly, and was agreed by the Russian and Ukrainian Delegations during the visits of OSCE PA President Ranko Krivokapic to Moscow (31 March) and Kyiv (1 April).

The OSCE PA continues to monitor the situation in Ukraine. The Assembly will observe the presidential elections scheduled for 25 May and is carrying out a series of pre-election visits to several regions of Ukraine under the leadership of Joao Soares (Portugal), the Special Co-ordinator of the short-term OSCE observer mission for the election, and Makis Voridis (Greece), the Head of the OSCE PA Delegation to observe the election.

This is a press release issued by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. The views expressed in this press release do not necessarily reflect those of the OSCE Chairmanship, nor of all OSCE participating States.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is comprised of 323 parliamentarians from 56 countries spanning, Europe, Central Asia and North America. The Assembly provides a forum for parliamentary diplomacy, monitors elections, and strengthens international cooperation to uphold commitments on political, security, economic, environmental and human rights issues.