Russia has faced a walkout of delegates of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) at its winter gathering in Vienna.
Thursday’s walkout came as the Russian delegation head Pyotr Tolstoy, deputy chairman of the state Duma, began addressing the two-day gathering. Some delegates left the room while others remained, waving Ukraine flags.
Ukraine and Lithuania have boycotted the gathering after Austria issued visas for 18 Russian MPs, six of whom are on EU travel sanction lists, to attend the organisation’s winter gathering in the Hofburg palace.
“Murderers belong in prison. We are boycotting this gathering because murderers are sitting at the table,” said Natalya Pipa, a Ukrainian MP and OSCE delegate who demonstrated outside rather than attend.
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In a critical opening address, OSCE president Margareta Cederfelt said Russia’s warmongering had sent Europe “spiralling into the unknown”.
Quoting from War and Peace, written by the Russian delegate’s great-great-grandfather, she noted Leo Tolstoy’s observation that “war is so unjust and ugly that all who wage it must try to stifle the voice of conscience within themselves”.
“Some in this room have trampled on their mandates,” she said. “Some have become promoters of war, murder, and destruction.”
Reading the speech of the absent Ukrainian delegation, Slovakian representative Peter Osusky said: “We must not let the warmongers win: not now, not ever.”
From provisional base in a nearby hotel, Ukraine’s delegation head, Mykyta Poturaiev, said he was not interested in hearing Russian “propaganda” on the first anniversary of invasion.
Because of OSCE rules, a veto by Russia has forced the organisation to end its work in Ukraine. That prompted Mr Poturaiev to demanded an overhaul of OSCE procedures, saying: “If one OSCE member attacks another, they should be suspended.”
Even ahead of the winter gathering, which ends on Friday, the OSCE’s Russia dilemma has ballooned into a political scandal for Austria.
Foreign minister Alexander Schallenberg said Austria had no legal means – either in its agreements with the Vienna-based OSCE or in international law – to withhold visas from the Russian delegation, though he admitted the date of the event was “most unfortunate”.
“At the same time, we must not disregard the fact that we need platforms,” he told Austria’s ORF broadcaster. “The OSCE has never been an organisation of like-minded people.”
The organisation was created in 1975, at the height of the cold war by the so-called Helsinki process, which pursued east-west detente and dialogue on issues such as arms control, human rights and press freedom.
Ireland’s OSCE ambassador, Anne-Marie Callan, condemned Russia’s war on Ukraine and its “appalling brutal and tragic consequences for the country”.
“We can be in no doubt that the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms is crucial for sustainable peace and security,” she told the gathering.
Austrian parliamentary president Wolfgang Sobotka condemned the war but said his country, as OSCE host, had a “duty not to slam the door on diplomacy”.
“One day the war will end and then dialogue is required,” he said.
The OSCE has defended the decision to invite Russia as a chance for delegations of the 57-member organisation to show them “our collective support for Ukraine”.
Pro-Ukraine protesters gathered outside the Hofburg were less convinced, holding banners reading “Russia is a terrorist state” and “Don’t sit at a table with murderers”.
“If one party is obsessed with power, whatever the cost, you shouldn’t invite them to dialogue,” protester Anna told ORF radio.
