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Ukraine recalls envoy to Council of Europe after PACE’s Russia decision

On Tuesday, PACE adopted a resolution, allowing Russia to take part in its June session

KIEV, June 25. /TASS/. Ukraine has decided to recall its envoy to the Council of Europe (CE) after the decision made by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Russia, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin wrote on his official Facebook page on Tuesday.

"The Council of Europe has lost our trust, it will be extremely difficult to regain it. From being a leader in protecting human rights, this organization has turned into a simple manager, mediocre one too. Therefore, we are recalling our Ambassador to the CE for consultations. The strategy is clear, as well as tactics," the Minister said.

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Kremlin says PACE’s decision on Russia does not indicate shift in attitude towards Crimea

According to him, the PACE decision is "especially vexing" for Kiev, considering the fact that a member to the Normandy format France is currently the CE chair. "Rolling red carper before the Russian parliamentarians without Russia’s fulfilment of the set conditions is, excuse my French, mauvais ton (bad manners - TASS)," he added. He also said that the PACE decision "will come back to haunt Europe later."

On Tuesday, PACE adopted a resolution, allowing Russia to take part in its June session. The document was supported by 118 parliamentarians, 62 members voted against it and there were 10 abstentions. Following this, participants of the summer PACE session challenged the powers of the Russian delegation in the organization. Now, according to its rule, a report on limiting the powers will be devised, the voting on it is scheduled for June 26.

According to PACE President Liliane Maury Pasquier, the delegations whose powers are disputed takes part in the organization’s work but cannot vote on this matter.

The Russian delegation to PACE was stripped of its rights to vote, to take part in monitoring missions or make up the PACE leadership institutions in April 2014, following the events in Ukraine and Crimea’s reunification with Russia. In 2015, PACE considered the issues of reinstating the rights of the Russian delegation twice, but the sanctions only got tighter then. In response, the Russian delegation announced that it refused to work in such conditions and did not submit its application to confirm its rights since 2016. In 2017, Russia also froze the payment of its membership dues to the CE budget.

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