MOSCOW, September 23. /TASS/. All members of Russia’s delegation will participate in the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) opening on Monday via video linkup, a source in the Russian parliament told TASS on Thursday.

"It has been decided that all members of the Russian delegation will take part in the session via video conference," the source said. The decision was made, among other things, due to COVID-19 restrictions in Strasbourg.

As First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Sergey Kislyak said on Thursday, commenting on the statement that Russia’s delegation was banned from free movement in PACE, the senators have not decided on the format of participation in the session yet, but there is no talk of banning travel to PACE.

Earlier, Pyotr Tolstoy, who heads the Russian delegation, noted that the 7th State Duma (lower house) deputies would be able to take part in the PACE session, which starts on September 27, since they still had their parliamentary powers. According to Tolstoy, the Russian lower house is going to participate in the session online.