Russia withdrawing from Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference

The Council of Russia’s State Duma (lower parliament house) has passed a decision on Russia’s withdrawal from the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC), State duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Monday.

"Today, the Duma Council passed a decision on Russia’s withdrawal from the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference. The BSPC’s permanent members are parliaments of Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Finland, Sweden, and Estonia. Currently, we have no dialogue with parliaments of most of these countries, either within this organization or via inter-parliamentary channels," the lower house’s website quoted him as saying.