MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference on European security issues on Thursday that the Council of Europe had been crippled by the West to such an extent that it has no chance to recover.

"The West has crippled the Council of Europe, leaving it no chance to recover," he said.

On March 15, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the Council of Europe had effectively lost its multifaceted nature, turning into an organization for aggressive imposition of the neoliberal approach to human rights, in violation of the principles and values enshrined in its charter and basic conventions. The ministry said that Russia parted with this iteration of the Council of Europe without regret, and its exit from the group wouldn’t affect the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens.