PARIS, January 25. /TASS/. Attempts to challenge the powers of the Russian delegation to the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) are motivated by the desire to hamper Russia's work rather than by human rights considerations, Russian Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe, Ambassador Ivan Soltanovsky has told TASS.
"There is nothing new about those attempts. They are using the same mechanism as in the past: they challenge the powers on substantial and procedural reasons simultaneously," the Russian diplomat said, adding that similar attempts were made in 2020 and 2021 as well.
Just like before, representatives of Ukraine and Baltic states complained about Crimea’s participation in Russian elections and other issues. Last year, the alleged poisoning of Russian blogger Alexey Navalny was added to the list. This year, one more complaint was voiced - the decision to designate a non-governmental organization, Memorial, as a foreign agent. The ruling was passed by the Moscow City Court in December 2021 and has not yet come into force.
"Those who are trying to challenge our powers and hamper the appointment of our candidate to the post of the assembly’s deputy chair, guaranteed to Russia, are obviously guided by the desire to create as many obstacles as possible for our delegation’s work, not by good intentions," Soltanovsky continued. "At the same time, it should be taken into account that their actions damage the constructive, de-politicized dialogue on the PACE platform, aimed at solving problems and challenges common for the entire European continent."
The Russian delegation’s rights within PACE have been challenged at the initiative of Lithuanian and Ukrainian lawmakers. The final decision on the matter is to be made on Wednesday.
Russia’s delegation will refuse from participating in the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) if any of their rights are infringed upon, Pyotr Tolstoy, the speaker of the Russian State Duma (lower parliament house) and the head of the Russian delegation to PACE, said on Monday. At the same time, he expressed hope that "common sense will win the upper hand and our European colleagues will not pander to provocation."
Meanwhile, chairman of the Duma international committee Leonid Slutsky noted that this is the third attempt to challenge Russia’s rights within PACE since its return to the organization in 2019. "The previous two - in 2020 and 2021 - ended in the failure of the Assembly’s Russophobes and the triumph of common sense - all the rights of Russian lawmakers were fully confirmed. I hope a constructive approach will win this time again," he wrote on his Telegram channel.