MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/. Renewing sanctions against the Russian delegation, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has made a rod for itself, dropping out of the game in the Ukrainian crisis resolution and depriving itself of the opportunity to interact with Russia, head of the international affairs committee of the State Duma lower house of parliament Alexey Pushkov said on the Rossiya-1 TV channel on Monday.
"Some of [PACE representatives], in my opinion, do not realise that when they imposed these sanctions, and when we congratulated them on this "wise" decision, they lost any role on Ukraine and also disrupted all contacts with Russia," said the MP. Moreover, he said, the European lawmakers did not realise that after denying Russia the main powers in Strasbourg "they cannot put (to Russia) any demands."
Pushkov said that "they (PACE representatives) sought permission to meet with [female Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda] Savchenko, they really wanted to make a report on the human rights situation in Crimea." If initially Russia was ready to consider these proposals, then now these prospects are closed for PACE, he said.
The Duma committee head said, "I believe that the Parliamentary Assembly (of the Council of Europe) has largely made a rod for itself." "That is, forgetting everything in its anti-Russian drive - to show us their disagreement and that we should be ‘punished’, they have forgotten that they thus have lost Russia as a key player on the European continent," he said. "Now they have begun to realise this, and again we hear talk from there that the dialogue with Russia is very important for them and so on," said the politician.
On January 28, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe decided to extend sanctions against the Russian delegation and deprive it of the voting power and the right to participate in PACE decision-making bodies until April. After that, the Russian delegation withdrew from PACE until the end of the year.