Russia and the Council of Europe may prepare a joint statement on the work aimed at combating the coronavirus pandemic on the platform of the council's institutions, the head of the Russian lower house's international affairs committee, Leonid Slutsky, said on Tuesday, adding that Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejcinovic Buric backed the idea
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th October, 2020) Russia and the Council of Europe may prepare a joint statement on the work aimed at combating the coronavirus pandemic on the platform of the council's institutions, the head of the Russian lower house's international affairs committee, Leonid Slutsky, said on Tuesday, adding that Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejcinovic Buric backed the idea.
On Tuesday, Pejcinovic Buric held a meeting with Pyotr Tolstoy, the head of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), as part of her first working visit to Moscow since taking office in September 2019.
"[Tolstoy] came up with a sound initiative, which was supported by the secretary general of the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe and Russia, as a country that has made the best progress in the fight against the terrible evil � the COVID-19 pandemic ... could prepare within the framework of the Committee of Ministers, and, possibly, also in the future of the Parliamentary Assembly, a joint statement of the Council of Europe and Russia on the work to combat COVID-19 on the platform of the Council of Europe institutions," Slutsky said following the meeting.
According to the senior lawmaker, if the Council of Europe follows the secretary general's example and supports the idea, the statement can be drafted in the near future.
Last week, the PACE committee discussed the impact of COVID-19 on democratic norms and the rule of law. The parliamentary assembly stressed that such significant reforms as constitutional amendments could not be made in times of a dire epidemiological situation. Within the context, the PACE Standing Committee battered Russia for holding a vote on constitutional amendments during the pandemic. In response, Viacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the Russian parliament's lower house, said that Europe should "stop using double standards and start saving lives," suggesting that the Council of Europe learn from Russia's experience in combating the pandemic.
