Russian parliamentarians refused to work with The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), RIA Novosti informs. The corresponding statement was adopted during the session of the State Duma on January 17. In the opinion of the deputies, today there is no reason for Russian to return to PACE, as well as for Moscow to pay contribution to the Council of Europe. The payment in 2019 would be amounted to 30 million euro, State Duma’s speaker Vyacheslav Volodin explained.
The authors of the document recalled that the parliamentary interaction between Russia and the Council of Europe were put on hold. Russophobic sentiment of the international organization became the reason for this decision. In return, this lead PACE to the deep systemic crisis. The decision was taken “in the interest of our citizens and Russian Federation”, statement says. According to the General Council of the United Russia party Sergei Neverov, Western international community is now expected to give speeches about Russian Parliament’s rejection of the democratic values.
Leader of the LDPR party Vladimir Zhirinovsky is convinced that there is no need to dwell on this, and Moscow should take next step and leave the Council of Europe.
As Russkiy Mir reported, Federation Council members approved the statement on January 16. According to them, as long as PACE keeps practicing sanctions against national delegations, there are no grounds for Russia to rejoin this structure. According to the document, Moscow is not going to apply for reaffirming the authority of Russian delegation on the next session of PACE.
It should be reminded that PACE has decided to deprive the right to vote and other authorities of Russian representatives on sessions due to the situation in Crimea. After that, Russia refused to pay membership dues until delegation’s rights would be restored. At the same time, Council of Europe is concerned that Russia might leave the organization. According to Secretary-General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland, Europe is ready to consider lifting of sanctions.