One year to the day after the start of the Russian invasion war in Ukraine, the symbol is striking. On Thursday 23 and Friday 24 February, six Russian parliamentarians, including five placed under European sanctions, were able to travel quietly to Vienna to attend the parliamentary assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), an international institution which has its headquarters in the Austrian capital.
“International law must be respected, even if it is not popular”, was justified upstream Alexander Schallenberg, the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, to explain the issuance of visas to Russian parliamentarians, despite the protests of more than 80 elected officials from the European Union (EU), Canada or the United States. United. According to the signatories, the members of the Russian delegation, but also of its Belarusian counterpart, “have no place in an institution responsible for promoting sincere dialogue”.
This is the first time since the start of the conflict that members of the Russian Duma and Senate have been able to set foot in an EU country. Fears have even arisen that the six Russians are taking the opportunity to participate, on Friday evening, in the traditional annual ball of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), a far-right formation with pro-Russian tendencies. The Austrian government had to ask them to refrain from going dancing the waltz claiming that their visa was “exclusively” reserved for their participation in the OSCE meeting.
Electric atmosphere
Austria, a neutral country not a member of NATO and long ambiguous about its relations with Russia, said it was constrained by the fact that it hosted the headquarters of this cooperation institution created, in the midst of the Cold War, to mark the appeasement between the two blocs, but whose functioning is now completely blocked by Russia. Its parliamentary assembly is a body that brings together a little more than three hundred elected representatives from fifty-seven member countries, at meetings that usually arouse little interest. The Russians were unable to attend the two assemblies held in 2022, in Poland and the United Kingdom, because they had not obtained the necessary visas.
In an interview at Mondethe head of the Russian delegation, MP Piotr Tolstoy, said he was satisfied with this welcome, very timely at a time when Moscow wants to deny any international isolation. “The Austrians have come under unprecedented pressure not to grant visas to our delegations, he assures, but they fulfilled their obligations and that’s normal. The principle of consensus is the basis of the OSCE. ” Mr. Tolstoy, who is also vice-president of the Duma, also justifies the interest for Moscow to send its representatives: ” We must keep a channel of discussion at least at this level. Otherwise, after our victory, who will you talk to? Europe has gone very far in its aggressiveness, but it will be necessary to rebuild the relationship with the largest country on the continent. »
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