MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th May, 2019) Russia should be allowed to take part in the election of the next secretary general of the Council of Europe on the equal basis with other members, Russia's Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Ivan Soltanovsky told Sputnik.
Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Marija Pejcinovic Buric and Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders are both running for the post of the head of the Council of Europe. The candidacy of the next secretary general will be decided during the June session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe.
Commenting on the candidates, Soltanovsky said that Russia is "ready to work with any candidate, if he or she is elected to serve as the secretary general."
"At the same time, I would like to emphasize that the Russian parliamentarians should be given an opportunity to vote in the elections of the secretary general on the equal footing," he added.
Moscow was barred from voting within PACE after Crimea's reunification with Russia in 2014. The Russian delegation to PACE has not been renewing its credentials since 2016, and Moscow suspended its annual contributions to the council in 2017.
In April, PACE adopted a resolution, urging Russia to form a delegation and pay a contribution to the Council of Europe. Back then, the speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament, Valentina Matviyenko welcomed the resolution but stressed that Russia would return to the assembly only if the organization introduced equal conditions for all delegations.
In late April, Matviyenko, held a meeting with PACE President Liliane Maury-Pasquier. The Russian official said that Russia saw positive developments in the PACE regarding the crisis with the Russian delegation.
