The foreign affairs committee of Ukraine’s parliament has voted to recommend suspending the country’s participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) after the international body reinstated Russia’s voting rights at the Assembly.
In a July 1 vote, the committee decided that Ukraine should halt participation in PACE until the Venice Commission — an independent advisory board of constitutional lawyers that oversees the parliamentary assembly — rules on appeals lodged by Ukraine and Georgia against Russia’s reinstatement.
In 2014, after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and invaded its eastern Donbas region, PACE temporarily suspended Russia’s voting rights in the parliamentary assembly. In response, Russia boycotted the Assembly, leaving its seats empty and withholding its membership dues.
Then, on June 28, PACE voted overwhelmingly to restore Russia’s voting rights. The decision came at a time when four of Russia’s official delegates to the Council of Europe are under international sanctions for their support of the Kremlin’s aggression against Ukraine.
Volodymyr Ariev, a Ukrainian lawmaker and chairman of the country’s delegation to PACE, recommended that Ukraine not restart its work in the Assembly until Russia frees 24 Ukrainian sailors currently held as political prisoners and ensures the rights of the Crimean Tatars, the indigenous population of Crimea.
The Ukrainian parliamentary committee also decided to withdraw an invitation to PACE observers to monitor snap parliamentary elections to be held in Ukraine on July 21.
“We cannot risk a moment when members of Russia’s State Duma, who have now been partially restored (in their role at PACE) and who voted for the annexation Crimea, can now come and observe democratic processes in Ukraine,” Ariev said.
Ariev also warned that sanctions could be imposed against Ukraine should it not let Russian lawmakers into the country during the parliamentary elections.
Beyond that, the foreign affairs committee recommended that Andriy Parubiy, speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, refuse to participate in the PACE conference of parliamentary speakers to be held in September. It also recommended that the foreign ministry not accept the new Head of the Council of Europe in Ukraine prior to consultations with the Council’s newly-elected secretary general.
According to Ariev, Ukraine should also appeal to the Council’s member states and ask them not to accept the credential of Russia’s delegates to PACE.
After PACE voted to reinstate Russia’s voting rights, the delegations of Ukraine, Georgia, Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia all walked out in protest.
The foreign affairs committee also wants to have a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky in order to discuss further steps, Hanna Hopko, an independent lawmaker who heads the committee, said.
So far, there has been no official reply from Zelensky.
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