LONDON, July 23. /TASS/. London’s intransigent position in the Council of Europe is a threat to the role and the very existence of this organization, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in the United Kingdom said on Monday, commenting on the July 18 statement by Alan Duncan, the FCO Minister for Europe and the Americas, condemning Russia of distorting the work of the Council of Europe, in particular, by withholding its budget contributions to the Council of Europe.

"We reaffirm our commitment to honor all outstanding financial obligations, once the rights of the Russian delegation are fully restored within PACE. It is precisely the intransigence of the UK and some other delegations that hampers finding a solution and thus threatens the very existence of the Council of Europe and its role as a foundation of a unique pan-European legal space," he said.

He noted that PACE "restricted the rights of Russian parliamentarians in an attempt to ‘punish’ them for the free choice by people of Crimea to become part of Russia." For three years, Russia stayed committed to its financial liabilities to the Council of Europe in full, despite the fact that its representatives were not allowed to fully participate in PACE’s work. "This could not go on indefinitely," the Russian diplomat stressed, adding that in 2017 the Russian side decided to suspend payment of its contributions until the Russian delegation "is fully and unconditionally restored in its rights."

"A year has since passed, and this has not happened," he said. "We believe that suspending the rights of a member country’s parliamentarians runs counter to the Statute of the Council of Europe. Decisions of this kind violate the principle of sovereign equality of states, which forms the basis of international law. Moreover, punishing duly elected MPs for their political position amounts to disregarding the very essence of democracy."

Russia and PACE

In April 2014, the Russian delegation to PACE was stripped of key rights, including the right to vote and take part in the assembly’s governing bodies, following the developments in Ukraine and Crimea’s reunification with Russia. 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 is deprived of the right to vote and cannot take part in the Assembly’s governing bodies and elections monitoring missions. In response, Russia suspended its participation in the PACE activities till the end of 2015. In 2016-2017, Russia skipped PACE meetings due to the ongoing sanctions.

In late June 2017, Russia said it was suspending payment of its contribution 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 the lawmakers of their rights but for their voters.

On January 11, 2018, chairman of the State Duma )lower parliament house) international committee, Leonid Slutsky, confirmed that Russia would not apply for confirmation of its rights for 2018.