The Foreign Affairs Committee of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada has supported the decision to suspend participation of the permanent Ukrainian delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in the Assembly's work until the Russian delegation fulfills a number of conditions regarding hostages and stopping the persecution of the Crimean Tatars.
The Committee also supported the proposal to suspend participation until the Venice Commission, hands down a conclusion on the powers of the Russian delegation, according to an UNIAN correspondent.
The Committee recommends that the next parliament composition resume the work of the delegation after Russia fulfills the main provisions of the PACE resolutions, namely the key provisions of seven resolutions relating directly to the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine.
As was reported, the PACE on June 26, 2019, lifted off of Russia the sanctions, which were in effect since April 2014 over the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea. All the powers of the Russian delegation to the PACE were reinstated in full.
Outraged by the decision, the delegations of Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine decided to leave the PACE summer session ahead of schedule.
Russia has not paid its contributions to the Council of Europe since June 2017.
