Russian and Ukrainian OSCE PA Delegations pledge to pursue two-track dialogue

BAKU, 30 June 2014 -- Members of the Russian and Ukrainian Delegations to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly met today on the sidelines of the 23rd OSCE PA Annual Session in Baku. The Delegations welcomed the opportunity to continue their direct communication following their initial meeting in Vienna in April, as first proposed by OSCE PA Vice-President Doris Barnett (MP, Germany) and hosted by OSCE PA President Ranko Krivokapic, who also initiated today's meeting.

The sides shared their views on recent developments in Ukraine and agreed on the need to continue open dialogue, which they will pursue on two tracks. One track will be the continuation of bilateral dialogue between members of both Delegations. The second track will be an international parliamentary liaison group, to be composed of members of the Russian and Ukrainian Delegations to the OSCE PA as well as a number of OSCE parliamentarians from other participating States.

The second track of dialogue resulted from the unanimous adoption earlier in the day by the OSCE PA Committee on Political Affairs and Security of an amendment to the Committee’s resolution introduced by the Head of the Russian Delegation, Speaker of the State Duma Sergey Naryshkin. The amendment "calls for the creation, on the platform of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, of an interparliamentary liaison group on Ukraine in order to de-escalate the situation on the ground and support the country out of the crisis." The item will be a part of the Baku Declaration, which all OSCE PA Delegations will vote on at the end of the Annual Session.

Participants in today’s meeting included:
 

Russian Delegation
Alexey Pushkov, Deputy Head of Delegation
Ilya Kostunov
Oleg Lebedev

Ukrainian Delegation
Oleg Zarubinskyi, Head of Delegation
Mykola Katerynchuk, Deputy Head of Delegation
Oksana Kaletnyk

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
Ranko Krivokapic, President
Doris Barnett (Germany), Vice-President
Emin Onen (Turkey), Vice-President 
Isabel Pozuelo (Spain), Vice-President
George Tsereteli (Georgia), Vice-President

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.