MOSCOW, October 17. /TASS/. The resolution by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) urging the international community to recognize Vladimir Putin's presidency as illegitimate after his current term ends in 2024 is part of the West’s information war against Russia and has no legal standing, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.
"Such attacks are part of Washington and Brussels’ information war and an element of meddling into our country’s domestic affairs on the part of unfriendly countries. For us they have no legal force whatsoever, and, to put it simply, are meaningless," the diplomat noted.
Zakharova pointed out that the anti-Russian agenda reflected in the resolution which ignores the legitimate vote that took place during the 2020 referendum, vividly demonstrates the true level of its authors and supporters’ political motivations. "What kind of objectivity can one expect from people who consider today’s Ukraine a 'democracy?' Or from those supporting [Ukrainian President] Vladimir Zelensky after his recent meeting with a Nazi criminal at the Canadian parliament? It is quite clear that PACE adheres to a policy of corrupt hypocrisy. The Russophobic documents that are being approved in Strasbourg testify to the continued degradation of the Council of Europe and the political circles in general in the countries of the 'collective West,'" her statement said.
Earlier, PACE approved a resolution urging that Putin not be recognized as Russia’s legitimate president after his term expires in 2024.