STRASBOURG, April 07. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s decision to quit the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will lead to a serious crisis in relations between Russia and the PACE, Russia’s chief delegate has said.

Alexei Pushkov, Chairman of the Russian State Duma lower house of parliament's Foreign Relations Committee, was speaking after a session of the Assembly Bureau on Monday.

The PACE motion to strip Russia’s delegation of its powers will be debated on Thursday, April 10, Pushkov said.

The PACE Monitoring Committee will prepare a report and draft a resolution based on the existing proposals, he said.

There are two initiatives — one in favor of revising Russia’s powers at the PACE and the other for stripping the Russian delegation of the right to vote, Pushkov said.

“There is a tendency in the PACE not to deprive the Russian delegation of its powers because such a move might force Russia to quit the PACE at all. Most of the PACE members intend to discuss sanctions that would demonstrate the Assembly’s discontent with Russia’s actions,” he said.

“Whether the radically-minded deputies pressing for Russia's expulsion can be stopped will be clear Thursday, when the parliamentarians will hold a vote,” Pushkov said.

“I believe that we’ll be ready to respond after the Monitoring Committee considers all proposals and it becomes clear which proposal for sanctions will be put to the vote,” he said.

“The Russian delegation will decide on its further actions on Wednesday,” Pushkov said.