French Ambassador to Ukraine Isabelle Dumont has said Ukraine’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) must now and in the future play a positive role in the work of the PACE, despite the return of Russia’s delegation to the PACE.
“We, of course, took into account the reaction of Ukraine’s PACE delegation. From our side, I would like to say that this delegation should in the future continue playing a positive role in this organization,” Dumont said in an interview with the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
The ambassador said Ukraine’s delegation is one of the most active delegations and this is important to representatives of Ukraine’s parliament and government, who work on the level of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
“Broadly speaking, Ukraine’s delegation works very powerfully, and Ukraine can be proud of its representatives in the Council of Europe,” Dumont said, adding that she understands that there are issues in Ukrainian society regarding the decisions which paved the way for the return of Russia’s PACE delegation.
“We, of course, understand the issues, which arose in Ukraine over the return of Russia to the Council of Europe. But we will look at the entire situation from a different perspective. The decisions approved by no means improve the situation for Russia from the standpoint of its interaction with the Council of Europe, particularly with the European Court for Human Rights and with its own citizens, who will be able to submit complaints against Russia to this institution. Namely this aspect was confirmed and strengthened by the decision [to let Russia’s delegation return to the PACE],” the diplomat said.
Dumont said the sanctions policy of the European Union against Russia would remain in force.
“I believe this fact that sanctions were renewed at almost all cut-off dates removes any suspicions and shows that the sanctions policy remains in force. There should be no worries about this,” she said.
