MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/. Several members of the Russian delegation of the Federal Council (upper house of parliament) will attend the upcoming session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in person, the rest will be working online, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Sergei Kislyak told TASS on Friday.
"Several people representing the Federation Council will go to Strasbourg. Today, we will determine the final list, but there will definitely be several senators within the delegation. The rest will take part remotely," Kislyak said.
The senator added that he would not go to Strasbourg himself, helping colleagues from Moscow instead.
According to Kislyak, this session will use the mixed format of participation of delegations for the first time, however, "these elements were honed during the previous year of the assembly’s work."
He noted that the upcoming session is likely to be difficult. "We know very well that Russia’s adversaries, who worked against our full participation before, did not abandon their attempts. At the same time, there are a lot of issues on the traditional agenda of the assembly that we will be working on," the lawmaker stated.
The PACE session will take place on January 25-28 in a hybrid format, during which the assembly will elect the secretary general of the assembly, as well as judges of the European Court of Human Rights. Members of the session also plan to discuss COVID-19 vaccines, the activity of non-governmental organizations in Council of Europe member states and the discrimination of people with chronic conditions.