FORT DE BREGANCON /France/, August 19. /TASS/. Moscow is thankful to Paris for its position on the reinstatement of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Russian President Vladimir Putin told a news conference on Monday ahead of his talks with the French leader, Emanuel Macron.

"We are thankful to France for its position on the Council of Europe, on the full-scale reinstatement of the Russian delegation [to PACE]. I think it will help build normal, comprehensive trust-based relations on the European continent," Putin said, adding he hopes France will also support normalization of Russia-European Union relations.

The Russian delegation to PACE was stripped of the rights to vote, take part in monitoring missions and be elected to PACE steering bodies in April 2014 following the developments in Ukraine and Crimea’s reunification with Russia. PACE considered Russia’s reinstatement twice throughout 2015 but sanctions were only toughened. In response, the Russian delegation refused to take part in the assembly’s work. It did not apply for confirmation of its mandate in 2016-2018 and froze the payment of contributions to the Council of Europe in 2017.

On June 26, 2019, the PACE session passed a resolution fully reinstating the Russian delegation and confirming its rights. On July 2, Moscow reportedly paid its due to the Council of Europe’s budget for 2019.