KIEV, July 2. /TASS/. Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Andrey Parubiy has retracted the invitation for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to send observers to monitor the Ukrainian parliamentary elections scheduled for July 21, head of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE Vladimir Aryev wrote on his official Facebook page on Tuesday.
"Parubiy cancelled the invitation to PACE to observe the snap parliamentary elections in Ukraine," he announced. A representative of the Council of Europe’s office in Ukraine told TASS on Tuesday that five PACE delegates had already arrived in Ukraine and were ready to leave in case Kiev made the corresponding decision.
On Monday, the Verkhovna Rada’s Foreign Affairs Committee recommended to retract the invitation for PACE to observe the elections following the decision to reinstate the rights of the Russian delegation in the organization. The Committee also recommended the Verkhovna Rada to suspend the Ukrainian delegation’s participation the PACE’s work until Russia fulfils a number of conditions. The Committee members also put forward an idea that the further participation of the Ukrainian parliamentarians in PACE’s work be discussed with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
On June 26, the participants of the PACE summer session passed a resolution prepared by the monitoring committee, which confirmed the rights of the Russian delegation in full, all the proposed sanction amendments were declined. Chairman of the Unified European Left Group at PACE, Dutch representative Tiny Kox told reporters that Russia remains in PACE "as a full member, without any restrictions."
The Ukrainian delegation categorically opposed Russia’s return to the organization, as well as the Baltic States, Georgia and Poland. After the vote on Wednesday, the Ukrainian delegation walked out of the session, saying that the decision on the country’s future participation in PACE’s work will be made by the new convocation of the Verkhovna Rada.