VIENNA (Sputnik) — Moscow hopes that Russian lawmakers will obtain visas to visit a session of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) in Vienna, Russia’s permanent envoy to the OSCE said.
"We expect, taking into consideration the good tempo and our ties with the Republic of Austria that this problem will be quickly removed and solved in favor of a full participation of our lawmakers in the winter session of the OSCE PA," Alexander Lukashevich told RIA Novosti.
He added that Austria had the right to provide the Russian delegation with visas by itself.
On July 1, 2015, Finland refused travel visas for several Russian parliamentarians, who were invited to take part in a session of the OSCE PA. Speaker of the Russian parliament's lower chamber Sergei Naryshkin, blacklisted by the European Union over accusations of involvement in the Ukrainian crisis, was among those whose visa was denied. In protest, the Russian delegation refused to participate in the parliamentary session.