Russia scolds OSCE for equating Hitler and Stalin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian lawmakers threatened the OSCE with "harsh" consequences on Saturday after the European security body's parliamentary arm condemned both Stalinism and fascism for starting World War Two.

Russia's delegates stormed out of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's annual parliamentary meeting after members passed the resolution, drafted by a delegate from the host nation Lithuania, a former Soviet satellite.

"This is nothing but an attempt to re-write the history of World War Two," Konstantin Kosachyov, who heads the foreign relations committee of Russia's lower house of parliament, told Interfax news agency.

"The reaction of the parliament to this document will be immediate and it will be harsh."

The resolution called for a day of remembrance for victims of both Stalinism and Nazism to be marked every August 23, the date in 1939 when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact dividing Eastern Europe between their spheres of influence.

Of the 213 delegates present, eight voted against the resolution and four abstained.

An OSCE spokesman noted that unlike its parliamentary branch, the Vienna-headquartered OSCE itself does not pass resolutions and takes decisions by consensus, giving each of its 56 member countries veto power.

Such parliamentary resolutions have little to no effect on OSCE policy, though Friday's was enough to draw Moscow's ire.

Since its brief war with neighbouring Georgia last year, Russia has had a strained relationship with the OSCE, which led a post-war monitoring mission in the conflict zone.