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Top lawmaker: Russia ready to restore dialogue with PACE if delegations have equal rights

At the meeting with PACE President Pedro Agramunt, Russia's State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin stressed that the Russian side calls for the interparliamentary dialogue

© EPA/PATRICK SEEGER

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/. Russia is ready to resume dialogue with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) provided that the delegations enjoy equal rights, State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin said on Wednesday.

"We are prepared to restore dialogue with the Parliamentary Assembly if all parliamentary delegations without exception have equal rights and possibilities," Naryshkin said at the meeting with PACE President Pedro Agramunt.

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Naryshkin stressed that the Russian side calls for the interparliamentary dialogue.

In his turn, Agramunt told Naryshkin that PACE seeks a sincere, constructive and friendly dialogue with Russia.

Russia’s delegation at PACE was deprived of its key rights in April 2014 over developments in Ukraine and Crimea’s reunification with Russia. In 2015, PACE voted twice on a possibility of restoring the Russian delegation’s powers but the restrictions remain in force. Russia is stripped of the right to vote and take part in the PACE governing bodies and its monitoring activities.

Owing to these restrictions, the Russian delegation suspended its participation in the PACE work until late 2015. The leadership of the Russian delegation has repeatedly said it would return to PACE only if all the sanctions were lifted. In January 2016, Russia refused to bid for confirming its powers this year.

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