Russia won’t tolerate
any restrictions on its basic and other powers in PACE, the head of Russia'a
delegation stressed.
STRASBOURG, June 25.
/TASS/. Russia will pay its contribution to the Council of Europe’s budget only
after its powers are restored in full, the head of Russia’s delegation, Deputy
State Duma (lower house) Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy said on Tuesday.
"First, Russia’s
powers will be restored, and then we will speak about this," Tolstoy said.
Russia won’t tolerate
any restrictions on its basic and other powers in PACE, he stressed. "The
powers are challenged in general. There is no such a procedure as dividing
powers into key and less important ones," the politician said.
"We are not
planning to tolerate any sanctions against the Russian delegation, any damage
to our powers," he warned.
On Tuesday, PACE
approved the resolution of Belgian representative Petra De Sutter that will
allow the Russian delegation to take part in the Assembly's June session. The
resolution was backed by 118 members, 62 people voted against it, and 10 people
abstained. PACE decided that its members’ "rights to vote, to speak and to
be represented in the Assembly and its bodies shall not be suspended or
withdrawn in the context of a challenge to or reconsideration of
credentials". The Assembly also agreed on inviting the parliaments of
Council of Europe member States "which are not represented by a delegation
to the Assembly" (Russia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) to present their
credentials at the June 2019 part-session.
In April 2014, the
Russian delegation was stripped of the rights to vote, participate in observer
missions and be represented in the organization’s ruling bodies following the
2014 events in Ukraine and Crimea’s reunification with Russia. In 2015, PACE
twice considered the issue of possibly restoring the Russian delegation's
powers in the Assembly. Instead, sanctions were further toughened. In response,
the Russian delegation refused to work in such conditions. In 2017, Russia also
stopped making financial contributions to the Council of Europe.
Source: ITAR-TASS
25-06-2019
