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PACE committee suggests to exclude procedural norms Russia objected against — Russian MP

State Duma member Leonid Slutsky said the Russian lower house of parliament will consider the text of the draft resolution on Tuesday

Chairman of the Russian State Duma's International Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

Chairman of the Russian State Duma's International Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky

© Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/. The Committee on Rules of Procedure of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has proposed to keep in place the sanctions norms in its Rule of Procedure but exclude those of them that Russia objected against, a senior Russian lawmaker said on Monday.

"The sanctions remained in place, but with reservations," said Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Russian State Duma's International Affairs Committee. "They are to be adjusted to exclude what we objected against, things that cannot be used, in our opinion, against parliamentary delegations in principle, such as deprivation of the right to vote and other such things that are not practiced in any other parliamentary organization."

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Senior MP says Russia could take part in PACE session if sanctions removed

He said that the Russian lower house will scrutinize the text of the draft resolution on Tuesday morning. "If we are satisfied with it, together with the foreign ministry and colleagues from the Federation Council we will take a preliminary decision (we have time for that before a meeting of the commission on the affairs of the Council of Europe scheduled for June 11)," he said.

"And the final decision will be made by the country’s leadership," he stressed.

Earlier in the day, PACE press service said that its Committee on Rules of Procedure of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) proposes to allow all member states, which for various reasons are not represented by a delegation to the Assembly, to present their credentials at the June session.

"Taking into consideration the decision of the Committee of Ministers taken in Helsinki on 17 May and the exceptional context which led to it, the committee proposes a derogation from the PACE Rules of Procedure in order to be able to invite the parliaments of member States which are not represented by a delegation to the Assembly — Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Russian Federation — to present their credentials during the June 2019 part-session," the press service said. "It is proposed that the credentials thus transmitted be examined at the meeting immediately following their transmission."

The draft resolution however needs to be approved at PACE’s plenary session opening on June 24.

The Russian delegation to PACE was stripped of the rights to vote, take part in monitoring missions and be elected to PACE executive bodies in April 2014 following the developments in Ukraine and Crimea’s reunification with Russia.

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PACE State Duma Leonid Slutsky

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