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Finlandâ€™s decision to deny entry to Russian delegates is ill-intentioned â€” OSCE envoy

02 July 2015 00:25 (UTC +04:00)

"We received an official reply from the Finnish Foreign Ministry that those visas would not be issued under a far-fetched pretext: this is how the Finnish side interprets provisions on the EU sanctions documents. That move was ill-intentioned," Kelin said.

Six members of the Russian parliamentary delegation were denied entry visas, Kelin said.

They include three key participants — Russian State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin; Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Russian State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Links with Compatriots residing abroad; and Alexey Pushkov, the head of the Russian State Duma International Affairs Committee.

Russian State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin said earlier on Wednesday that the entire Russian delegation would refuse to attend the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly session in Helsinki in sign of protest.