For the first time since 2012, Ukraine was represented at this event at such a high level.
Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Permanent Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly / Deputy Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's General Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment, Artur Herasymov, took an active part in the meeting.
The Ukraine's representative noted the importance of permanent attention to the issue of aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, in particular, he drew attention of the Parliamentary Assembly member countries to the necessity for the speediest settlement of the conflict in the east of Ukraine, problems of internally displaced persons as well as the issue of territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol temporarily occupied by Russia.
The Chair of the Ukrainian delegation stressed that Ukraine, the European Union and the OSCE do not recognize so-called elections to the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly (the Russian Parliament), that took place in the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. He noted the inadmissibility of any access of the Duma members elected in the occupied territory of Ukraine to the composition of the Russia's Permanent Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
Herasymov also reminded participants in the event about the decision of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Committee and the Bureau of the Organization regarding the appeal of Ukraine against authorities of the Russian MP O.Kovitidi declared a member of the parliamentary delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly by the Russian Federation in 2015. Then, in compliance with respective decision of the Committee, the Bureau of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly took the unanimous decision not to recognize Kovitidi as a member of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly delegation, which confirmed OSCE's support to Ukraine in the issue of non-recognition of the annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation.
In December 2016, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Christine Muttonen again noted the inadmissibility of access of Duma members to the permanent delegation of the Russian Federation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.