The Russian parliament will form a stance on the national delegation's participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)'s session before January 21, the Russian lower house's international affairs committee chairman Leonid Slutsky said on Wednesday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th January, 2019) The Russian parliament will form a stance on the national delegation's participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)'s session before January 21, the Russian lower house's international affairs committee chairman Leonid Slutsky said on Wednesday.Earlier in the day, State Duma deputy speaker Pyotr Tolstoy said that the lower house had received a letter from the PACE secretariat, suggesting that Russia form a delegation for participation in the assembly's winter session. He said that the parliament would reply within a week.
"We will hold consultations with the Foreign Ministry and our colleagues from the Federation Council. It is very likely that at the beginning of next week, we will consider this situation at a special meeting of the international affairs committee. Perhaps, it will be held on January 16, and [then the issue] will be submitted for consideration to the State Duma Council on January 17. Therefore, [the issue will be decided upon] until January 21, when the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will hold its first meeting," Slutsky told reporters.
He specified that both houses of parliament would form a unified position on the issue before the opening of the PACE winter session.
The lawmaker added that Russia's principled position with regard to its participation in the work of PACE was meant to ensure that there are "no artificial fault lines" among member nations of the Council of Europe.
Relations between Russia and the Council of Europe, particularly its parliamentary arm, worsened in April 2014 after Russia was stripped of its voting rights in the assembly over the events in Ukraine and Crimea's reunification with Russia. Since 2016, the Russian delegation has not been renewing its credentials ahead of the assembly's sessions in protest of the discrimination it faces within the organization.
In June 2017, Moscow froze part of its Council of Europe contribution meant for Russia's PACE membership for 2018 until its delegation's rights in the organization were completely restored.
