MOSCOW, February 2 /TASS/. PACE’s decision to extend its sanctions imposed on the Russian delegation during the spring session and deprive it of the right to vote and participate in the organization’s leading bodies until April 2015 violated the fundamental principle of supremacy of law, Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry ombudsman for human rights, democracy and the rule of law, said on Monday.
On January 28, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) decided to extend the sanctions imposed on the Russian delegation during the spring session and deprived it of the right to vote and participate in the PACE leading bodies until April. After that, the Russian delegation suspended its work at PACE till the end of 2015.
"The PACE decision is violating the fundamental principle of supremacy of law," Dolgov said adding that it was part of a policy designed to isolate and impose sanctions on Russia.
Dolgov said that the Russian Foreign Ministry would react to any public statement against Russia.
"I would like to assure everybody that the Foreign Ministry will leave none of the publicly made anti-Russia statements which can be heard in abundance without adequate reaction, let alone the practical steps taken by Europe and the United States," Dolgov stressed adding that the Russian Foreign Ministry had expressed its unequivocal stance on that matter in official documents.