At the Autumn Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA), Russian official Sergey Naryshkin made the Ukrainian crisis a top European security issue, while speaking at a conference on new security challenges in the region.
At a meeting on "New Security Challenges: The Role of Parliaments" on Friday, Naryshkin, the Head of the Lower House of Russian Parliament, who leads the Moscow delegation, delivered a speech in the debate on such topics as the threat of extremism, and the protection of human rights.
Naryshkin said he was under an impression that some European countries had chosen "tactics of destruction for Ukraine" from the very beginning of the conflict. He also pointed out that Kiev authorities make it clear that certain recent agreements, including the peace plan reached in Minsk on September 5, "are non-essential and can be easily disrupted."
Speaking at the conference, he highlighted the fact of the mass graves discoveries near Donetsk, and called for an international investigation. "We demand an international tribunal for those involved in crimes against humanity," Russian parliamentarian said.
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He added that the grave discoveries raise concerns of "genocide," and that representatives of the Russian-speaking populace have been killed "only for the fact of belonging to this group."
Another meeting of inter-parliamentary contact group on Ukraine was planned within the OSCE PA session, based on earlier agreement reached at the Assembly's summer gathering. But the meeting had to be postponed, after American participants, followed by Polish and Ukrainian officials, said they would not take part in the meeting.
"Looks like our oversea partners resent the very fact of the initiation of this contact group," Naryshkin said upon arrival to Switzerland, as quoted by Interfax agency, adding that such attitude "makes it even more obvious who is really aiming for restoration of peace in Ukraine, and who opposes the process."
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According to the Russian parliamentarian, some Ukrainian deputies, who decided not to come to Geneva, are just busy preparing for parliamentary elections in Ukraine, scheduled for October 26, and do not want hold responsibility for "crimes, violations of human rights, violence and unlawful acts, currenеly observed" in the country.
Despite the cancelled meeting, Russian delegation will keep working at the Assembly as planned, taking part in various discussions.
At a conference on Saturday, Russian participants plan to call OSCE to properly study not only the mass graves discoveries near Donetsk and the Odessa massacre, but also "the use of prohibited weapons by Ukrainian army," including ballistic missiles and phosphorous ammunition, MP Aleksey Pushkov, who chairs the State Duma Committee for International Relations, told Tass agency.
The head of the delegation Sergey Naryshkin will also hold a number of meetings, including talks with the OSCE PA President Ilkka Kanerva and Swiss politicians.
Organized to establish and facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue, the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) PA meetings are held regularly throughout the year. The Autumn Meeting, the final major gathering of the Assembly this year, is taking place in Geneva until October 5, with over 450 officials from more than 50 countries participating in its sessions.