Leonid Slutsky, Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on International Affairs, informed that a Russian parliamentary delegation intends to visit Syria by the year’s end, reported Interfax news agency.

He noted that Russian MPs met with Hammouda Sabbagh, Speaker of the People’s Council (Parliament) of Syria, within the framework of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and he invited them to his country.

“State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin accepted the invitation on behalf of the lower chamber of [the Russian] parliament,” Slutsky noted.

He added, however, that the Russian MPs will work toward including their colleagues from European countries in this trip.