The Russian Federation has failed to achieve a change in the sanctions procedure of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which would have reinstated Russian delegates’ voting rights, head of the Ukrainian parliament’s delegation, MP from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc Volodymyr Ariev said.
“Voting on the PACE resolution is over. Russia has not succeeded in changing the sanctions procedure!” he wrote on Facebook on Wednesday evening.
According to Ariev, the PACE resolution criticizes Russia for the refusal to send its delegates and pay its contribution to the Council of Europe.
“They have called [on Russia] not to be afraid and not to blackmail but fulfill the undertaken commitments. The existing sanctions mechanism remains in effect. An additional, more sophisticated mechanism may possibly be introduced. But it’s a question to be dealt with at next sessions. The [Ukrainian] delegation has made its best,” he said.
Member (substitute) of Ukraine’s delegation at PACE, MP (independent) Borys Bereza says that Russia will continue seeking an opportunity to return to the PACE session hall without fulfilling PACE resolutions.
In April 2014, the voting rights of Russia’s delegates to PACE were suspended over the annexation of Crimea by Russia. In January 2015, the sanctions were prolonged. In protest, the Russian delegates stopped attending PACE sessions, which take place four times a year. In 2017, Moscow suspended payments to the Council of Europe’s budget.
