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Russia ready to cooperate with new CE secretary general based on equality principle

On Wednesday, participants of the summer session of PACE elected Croatia’s Foreign Minister Maria Paichinovich-Burich to the position of Council of Europe Secretary General

STRASBOURG, June 27. /TASS/. Moscow expects to cooperate with the newly elected Council of Europe (CE) Secretary General Maria Paichinovich-Burich on the basis of the equality principle between all member countries, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Ivan Soltanovsky informed TASS on Thursday.

RUSSIA-PACE RELATIONS

"First and foremost, I would like to congratulate Maria Paichinovich-Burich on her election to the post of the Council of Europe Secretary General," the diplomat said. "We hope to cooperate with her in a constructive manner on the basis of the principle of sovereign equality of all member states of the organization in order to build a truly united Europe, from Lisbon to Vladivostok. Due to the fact that the Russian parliamentary delegation [in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe] was able to participate in the election, the legitimacy of the elected secretary general causes us no doubt."

On Wednesday, participants of the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) elected Croatia’s Foreign Minister Maria Paichinovich-Burich to the position of Council of Europe Secretary General for the period of five years. Currently, the position is held by Norwegian politician Thorbjorn Jagland, who has headed the Council of Europe since 2009.

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FACTBOX: Collective Security Treaty Organization

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