Sigrid Maasen, ERR News
Chairman of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Marko Mihkelson said that resolving the issues that continue to surface in the relations between Estonia and Russia is difficult, if not impossible, without inter-parliamentary diplomacy.

Mihkelson said on Monday that the members of the committee have taken steps to refresh the dialogue and have invited their Russian colleagues for a visit.

In a letter received by Mihkelson last week, Chairman of the Russian Duma's International Affairs Committee Alexei Pushkov announced that he and his colleagues are prepared to visit Estonia and meet with Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss the principal problems between the two countries as well as international issues.

Pushkov's letter came in response to the letter sent by Mihkelson in January, in which he congratulated the newly-appointed chairman of the International Affairs Committee and expressed the hope that the committees would continue the cooperation that has had a positive impact on the relations between the two countries as a whole.

Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee last met with the Russian Federation Council's Foreign Affairs Committee in 2006 and with the Duma's International Affairs Committee in 2005.

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