Contents tagged with Council of Europe

  • Russia may refuse to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights

    Russian permanent representative to the Council of Europe Ivan Soltanovsky said that Moscow could not only refuse membership in the Council of Europe but also withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights. According to RIA Novosti, the diplomat did not exclude such a possibility if the parties will not come to a compromise.

    "We are considering all possible scenario, keeping in mind foreign policy consequences for both Russia and international relations on the European continent," he …

  • Ukraine hopes that the Council of Europe will not make unreasonable concessions to Russia

    Ukraine hopes that the Council of Europe will continue to be a model of democracy, and will not make unjustified concessions in favor of the largest violator-state of its principles and norms, according to the statement issued by  the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 70th anniversary of the Council of Europe.

    The Ministry noted that the Council of Europe is in crisis because of the actions of the Russian Federation.

    "We should note with sadness that Organization came to the 70th …

  • PACE adopts resolution which keeps sanctions against Russia in place

    The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on “the PACE challenges”, which contains amendments that do not allow lifting sanctions from Russia and returning it to the assembly without fulfilling its obligations. According to Radio Liberty, 105 parliamentarians voted in favor of the resolution, 30 against, and 30 abstained from the decision.

    The resolution proposed a new complex mechanism for imposing sanctions, which would have canceled the existing …

  • Ukraine urges PACE to avoid restoring Russia's membership due to repressions of Crimean Tatars

    The Ukrainian delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) appealed to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland and PACE President Liliane Maury Pasquier in connection with the detention of around 20 Crimean Tatars by the Russian authorities of annexed Crimea. They requested to use the existing mechanisms to protect the rights of the indigenous people of the peninsula and to stop efforts to restore Russian delegation to the PACE, reports …

  • PACE calls on Russia to release Ukrainian sailors

    The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted the resolution "The escalation of tensions around the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait and threats to European security,” Ukrinform reports.

    In this resolution, PACE officially demands that Russia treats the captured sailors in compliance with the Geneva Convention on to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. "The Assembly urges Russia to immediately release the Ukrainian servicemen and ensure they are granted the necessary medical, …

  • Secretary General of Council of Europe speaks about the crisis in PACE due to the conflict with Russia

    Depriving Russia of the right to vote in the Parliamentary Assembly neither improved the human rights situation in Russia nor made Russia to return the Crimea. Instead, it caused a crisis in the Council of Europe, said Thorbjørn Jagland, the Secretary General of the organization, at the PACE winter session on Tuesday, January 22. A report on his speech was published on the website of the Council of Europe.

    Jagland noted that the Assembly’s decision to deprive the Russian delegation of the …

  • Russia refuses to pay contributions to the Council of Europe

    After consultations with the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Liliane Maury Pasquier in Geneva, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Pyotr Tolstoy stated that Russia will not pay contributions to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe or PACE in 2019, TASS reports.

    "PACE will not receive Russian contributions. Russia is not going to buy tickets to a movie that we won’t watch,” Tolstoy stated. He also opposed the intentions of the Russian delegation to …

  • Russia caught interfering in Moldovan elections

    Chisinau has declassified a report investigating interference by the Open Dialogue Foundation and its Russian founder, Lyudmila Kozlovskaya, in Moldova’s internal affairs by financing Moldovan political parties, reported the Moldovan state news agency, citing the press service of the Moldovan parliament.

    “The commission has reached the conclusion that Open Dialogue’s actions were of a subversive nature and constituted a threat to the state security of the Republic of Moldova,” the report …

  • Secretary General of PACE: If Russia does not pay, it will be excluded from the statutory bodies

    Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland warned that Russia’s participation in statutory bodies would be terminated if it did not pay its contributions to the OSCE budget in 2019, Evropeyska Pravda reports.

    Jagland said that the Committee of Ministers can terminate Russia’s participation in the PACE and Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in accordance with the statute that imposes restrictions against the State that does not pay membership fees. Russia may …

  • PACE representative preparing resolution on Nemtsov murder case denied entry to Russia

    Lithuanian politician Emanuelis Zingeris, who was supposed to prepare a resolution of the Council of Europe on the investigation of the murder of Boris Nemtsov was denied entry to Russi, Deutsche Welle reports. The politician planned a trip to Moscow to collect materials for the preparation of the resolution.

    "Perhaps the ban is related to my work in the Council of Europe and my investigation into the circumstances surrounding the murder of Boris Nemtsov, about which I later intend to inform …