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PACE head ‘took note’ of Russia’s possible exit from Council of Europe

Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko Russia spoke of the possibility during the meeting with PACE President Liliane Maury-Pasquier

ST. PETERSBURG, September 20. /TASS/. Head of Russia's Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev informed that President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Liliane Maury-Pasquier took note of Russia’s possible exit from the Council of Europe during the meeting with Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko.

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

"She took note of it," Kosachev told TASS in response to the question about the assembly president’s reaction to the Russian speaker’s words. Kosachev also took part in the meeting with Maury-Pasquier.

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.