The Helsinki Commission, which represents the United States in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), has asked the Austrian Foreign Ministry not to issue visas to the Russian delegation to participate at the meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to be held next week in Vienna.
Helsinki Commission Chairman, Congressman Joe Wilson, Deputy Senator Ben Cardin and Congressman Steve Cohen sent a letter to Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg asking him to reconsider issuing visas to the Russian delegation which will take part in the winter meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to be held next week in Vienna.
The winter meeting is timed to coincide with the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is expected to be the first face-to-face meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly with the participation of Russia and Belarus. since the start of the war.
The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on all members of the Russian delegation for having supported the war of aggression launched by Vladimir Putin against Ukraine.