STRASBOURG, January 30. /ITAR-TASS/. Threats of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s sanctions against Ukraine are counterproductive and absurd, Deputy Head of the Russian delegation to PACE, Chairman of the State Duma committee for CIS affairs Leonid Slutsky said on Thursday.

His comments came after PACE adopted Resolution 1755 (2010) on the functioning of democratic institutions in Ukraine.

PACE adopted a resolution, where in fact, it places responsibility for the political crisis and aggravation of the situation in Ukraine on the incumbent authorities and partially on Russia and threatened the Ukrainian delegation with sanctions suspending its powers and debarring from voting in Strasbourg in the event of the use of force against protesters on Kiev’s Independence Square.

“The Ukrainian delegation is absolutely not guilty in what has happened in Ukraine,” Slutsky said. “Punishing parliamentarians in such a fashion, PACE demonstrates that in reality it does not care for Ukraine and its behavior is absolutely cynical.”

He also criticized the resolution’s provisions on tougher monitoring of Ukraine at the level of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and reduction of the Council of Europe’s cooperation programs with that country.

“This is the continuation of the course of western countries that try to punish the Ukrainian authorities and demonstrate that it is counterproductive to march against them. Thus, the Council of Europe will be soon able to get assimilated in the European Union,” Slutsky said.

This concept also embraced an attempt to place responsibility on Russia for Ukrainian events, the parliamentarian said. “That what should be directed at European politicians, is directed in the resolution at Russia,” he said.

A member of the Russian delegation from the Federation Council, upper house of the Russian parliament, Igor Morozov, added that “the voting logic of the assembly’s members is targeted at supporting moods of the minority of the Ukrainian population and at exerting influence on that country through the monitoring process.”

“Probably, parliamentarians of the Council of Europe are seriously concerned that the majority of the Ukrainians will support President Viktor Yanukovich’s decision to take course for European integration,” Morozov said, recalling that PACE refused to adopt the Ukrainian delegation’s amendment allowing to hold a referendum choosing Ukraine’s future road.

“Russia and member-states of the Eurasian space have the right to create its integration associations that give a strong impetus to trade and economic development in the region,” Morozov said.