STRASBOURG, June 27. /TASS/. Russia is prepared to become the major sponsor of the Council of Europe [CoE] once again and to resume the payments of membership fees in full if changes are made in the regulations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE] and the clauses allowing to strip the national delegations of powers go, a senior Russian MP said on Tuesday.
Leonid Slutsky, the chairman of the State Duma committee for international relations, represents Russia at a session of PACE's special commission in charge of harmonizing the activity of CoE constituent bodies.
"We aren't excessively categorical," Slutsky said. "We are a country whose patience has been fully exhausted. We're prepared to be the main sponsor at the Council of Europe again and to continue working with efficiency at the CoE Committee of Ministers, at the Parliamentary Assembly and at the European Court for Human Rights but only after PACE drops off the capability to strip country delegations of power, either in full or partly."
He said along with it that the ball was fully on PACE’s side of the pitch in what concerned the situation with the Russian fees.
"It’s an open secret the monies that CoE has in its budget will be sufficient only to get through to the beginning of next year without Russia’s fees and they’ll have to slash their programs and personnel," Slutsky said.
He added, however, that Moscow was not driving anyone into a corner and was not putting forward any ultimatums.
"CoE and PACE are free to act as they please and Russia reserves the same kind of right for itself," Slutsky said. "We offered compromise solutions on three occasions as a minimum when they deprived us of the right to vote and castigated us for our own money."
"Now it’s a moment of truth in a way for PACE and for CoE," he said. "Either we consolidate the countries of Europe around CoE’s high standards and principles or else we draw the lines of division between them, although I don’t find the latter situation acceptable."