Russia vows to return to PACE
The Chairperson of the Russian Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko, promised journalists on Monday that Russia, without any doubt, will return to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
“We will return, we need to. But who needs this more is another question, and not an easy one. The Council of Europe needs this no less, if not more than Russia. The dialogue continues as the Council of Europe understands clearly that we will not waiver,” TASS reported quoting Matviyenko.
Matviyenko stressed that the initiative to return the Russian delegation to its seat at the PACE table was coming from the leadership of the Council of Europe, but its efforts remained blocked by “a russophobic, clamorous minority that had political agenda on their mind.”
“But we will wait them out. We will wait until those loud barkers are silent, then necessary changes will be made to the standing orders, and the assembly will return to its normal order,” Matviyenko said.
She also noted that so far there were no reasons for Russia to quit the Council of Europe.
As it was earlier reported, PACE’s bureau formed a special group to represent Russia at both statutory bodies of the Council of Europe with the final goal to readmit Russia’s representatives at PACE.
At the same time, Russia acknowledged that PACE would not lift restrictions and not allow it to return to the Assembly in 2018.
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, believes that PACE must accept the requirements of the Federation to prevent the latter from quitting the Council.
PACE imposed political sanctions on Russia back in 2014, significantly curtailing Russia’s decision making at the Council and resulted in Russia boycotting the meetings.