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Russia to decide on Council of Europe membership after amendments to PACE regulation

Russian senator recalled that the amendments will be considered during a PACE session in October

ST. PETERSBURG, September 20. /TASS/. Russia will decide on its membership in the Council of Europe based on amendments to the regulation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which are currently under development, Head of Russia's Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev told TASS on Thursday.

"The decisions will be taken after, and based on, the evaluation of the amendments to the PACE regulation, which a PACE commission on regulation is currently developing (there was another session today, by the way). These amendments will be considered during a PACE session in October," Kosachev said.

Earlier, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said during a meeting with PACE President Liliane Maury-Pasquier that Russia is starting to consider the decision on exiting the Council of Europe.

The PACE head informed that the report on PACE regulation amendments will be published on Thursday evening.

Russia and PACE

In April 2014, the Russian delegation to PACE was stripped of its key rights, including the right to vote and take part in the assembly’s governing bodies, following the developments in Ukraine and Crimea. The issue of restoring the rights of the Russian delegation was raised at PACE twice throughout 2015 but the sanctions are still in place. Russia has been deprived of the right to vote and cannot take part in the Assembly’s governing bodies and election monitoring missions. In response, Russia suspended its participation in PACE’s activities until the end of 2015. In 2016-2017, Russia skipped PACE’s meetings due to the ongoing sanctions.

In late June 2017, Russia said it was suspending its monetary contributions to the Council of Europe over its non-participation in PACE. Concurrently, it suggested PACE’s regulations be amended to ensure that no one could deprive lawmakers of their rights except their voters. On January 11, Russian MP Leonid Slutsky said that Russia would not submit an application to confirm the Russian delegation’s powers for 2018.

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