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Lavrov to meet Council of Europe chief on December 6

Thorbjorn Jagland will pay a working visit to Russia on December 6-7

MOSCOW, December 5 /TASS/. Thorbjorn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, will pay a working visit to Russia on December 6-7, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

He is due to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on December 6.

"The parties will discuss a wide range of issues related to Russia’s multi-faceted activities in the Council of Europe and will continue dialogue on urgent European matters," the Russian Foreign Ministry went on to say.

"We are satisfied with the level of dialogue, which Russia has established with the Council of Europe Secretary General," the Russian Foreign Ministry said adding that Lavrov’s previous meeting with Jagland had taken place on the sidelines of the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 22.

Apart from Lavrov, Jagland will also be meeting Valentina Matviyenko, Speaker of the Russian Federation Council (parliament’s upper house); Vyacheslav Volodin, Speaker of the Russian State Duma (parliament’s lower house); Valery Zorkin, Russia’s Constitutional Court Chairman; Vyacheslav Lebedev, Chairman of the Russian Supreme Court; Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov and Russian Human Rights Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that 2016 had marked the 20th anniversary of Russia’s accession to the Council of Europe.

"Over that period of time, our country has covered a long way in building a rule-of-law state; developing a pluralistic democracy and observing human rights. Full-scale reforms have been carried out in all spheres of public life," the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed.