Council of Europe/ Ellen Wuibaux

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe supported the resolution approving the credentials of the delegation of the Russian Federation without imposing any sanctions.

The results of the voting were announced by President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Lilianne Mauri-Pasquier, at a meeting of the summer session, which is taking place in Strasbourg (France) June 24-28.

A total of 116 legislators voted in favor of the relevant resolution, 62 voted against, and 15 abstained.

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At the same time, the Assembly refused to support the amendment to the resolution on the condemnation of the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia and on Russia's participation in the military conflict in the east of Ukraine.

The PACE also refused to apply a number of sanctions on the Russian delegation for the period up to January 2020.

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In particular, it was proposed to suspend the right of the Russian Federation to elect its representatives to the Monitoring Committee and the Bureau of the Assembly.

In addition, the Assembly did not deprive the Russian delegation of the right to participate in the Assembly’s election monitoring missions and the right to represent the Assembly in Council of Europe bodies, external institutions and organizations, both on an institutional and irregular basis.

At the same time, the Assembly expressed regret that Russia suspended cooperation with PACE and did not submit documents for the approval of the powers of its delegation in 2016-2019.

Also, PACE expressed dissatisfaction over the suspension by Russia of the payment of membership fees to the budget of the Council of Europe.

The Assembly stressed that it is determined to maintain a dialogue with Russia in order to achieve sustainable solutions.

At the same time, in the text of the resolution, the return of the delegation of the Russian Federation to the session hall of the Assembly is explained by the importance of electing a new Secretary General of the Council of Europe and judges of the European Court of Human Rights.

In this regard, the Assembly decided to ratify the powers of the Russian Federation. This decision finally returns the Russian delegation to the PACE session hall without it fulfilling any conditions.

At the same time, the Assembly developed a number of recommendations that Russia, in the opinion of PACE, should implement. In particular, the Assembly calls on the Russian authorities to release 24 Ukrainian sailors captured in the Kerch Strait on charges of "illegally crossing the border of the Russian Federation."

In addition, the PACE called on the Russian Federation to immediately pay all contributions to the Council of Europe budget.

Assembly called on the Russian Federation to cooperate unconditionally and fully with the Joint Investigation Group and the Prosecutor’s Office of the Netherlands to bring those responsible for shooting down a Malaysian airline flight MH17 to responsibility.

The PACE also urged Russia to take effect vigorous measures to prevent violations of the human rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and intersex people, especially in Chechnya, and to bring to justice those responsible for past actions, and called on Russia to fully cooperate with the international community in investigating the murder of Boris Nemtsov.