The legislator explained that there is no question of leaving the OSCE, since Moscow reserves the opportunity to return if the working conditions of its delegation improve, Izvestia newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Dzhabarov recalled that in early 2022, conditions have progressively hindered the participation of Russian representatives: they were not issued entry visas and were deprived of freedom of speech.

Konstantin Kosachov, another member of the International Affairs Committee of the Federation Council, noted that “the OSCE format was conceived as a platform for reconciliation and a possible rapprochement of positions.”

“Recently, the OSCE has stopped dealing with general issues and has started trying to impose the collective opinion of the West on everyone else. It was not us who changed, it was the organization that changed, it was changed from within and in fact it was destroyed,” he added. “Working in such an organization, which is no longer a platform to compare positions, to bring them together, is absolutely useless for Russia,” the senator said.

“If normal conditions are created for our work in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, if we are given guarantees and the principle of consensus is established in this organization, a review of this decision is possible,” Kosachov added.

Alexei Fenenko, professor at the Faculty of World Politics of Moscow State University, believes that Russia is moving towards a gradual withdrawal from the OSCE.

“Russia has tried to make several reforms of the organization since 2004, after Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s statements that the OSCE in its current capacity does not suit us, but he could not achieve anything,” the expert explained.

“We are facing a new edition of the Russia-NATO Council. The departure of the Russian Federation is, in my opinion, only a matter of time,” he added.

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