Ukraine faces considerable money laundering risks due to the corruption and illegal economic activities.
Russia will not send its delegation to the January session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) as no amendments have been introduced on protecting national delegations from discrimination, Deputy State Duma Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy told TASS on Thursday.
Norway will provide NOK 10 million (EUR 950,000) for the implementation of the Council of Europe (CoE) Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2021, according to an UNIAN correspondent, reporting from a Kyiv press conference of Ambassador of Norway to Ukraine Ole Terje Horpestad and Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine Мarten Ehnberg on December 8.
Chair of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE, President of the Committee for Culture and Media Volodymyr Ariev says the majority of PACE members believe that the Russian delegation should return to the Assembly only after Moscow ceases aggression against Ukraine.
Deputy Chair of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Gerashchenko has said the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will consistently insist on the ban on the return of the Russian delegation to the PACE session hall.
The Council of Europe is considering lifting sanctions it imposed over Russia’s aggression in Ukraine for fear Moscow could otherwise pull out — dealing a blow to human rights protection, the Financial Times reports.
Russian occupiers in the illegally-annexed Crimea persecute those who express dissent with de-facto authorities, Commissioner of the Ukrainian President for Crimean Tatar affairs, Mustafa Dzhemilev, said at a meeting with Head of the Presidential Administration Ihor Rainin and the delegation of the Congress of local and regional authorities of the Council of Europe, where human rights violations in Crimea were discussed.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe approved by majority vote a decision that aims to lift political sanctions from the Russian Federation, Europeiska Pravda reported.
Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Liliya Hrynevych on Friday discussed with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland the newly-adopted Law "On Education", Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Kilmkin during a meeting with EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn confirmed Ukraine's readiness to submit for examination by the Council of Europe a language-related article in the country’s new law on education, MFA Ukraine’s press service reports.
The Ukrainian authorities have commented on the Russia-controlled de-facto "supreme court" in the annexed Crimea handing down Sept. 11 a guilty verdict against Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Akhtem Chiygoz.