PACE President isn't satisfied with relationship with Russian Duma
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Pedro Agramunt, who arrived in Moscow on an official visit, noted the poor state of relations between PACE and the Russian State Duma.
“The fact that the Russian Parliament decided not to appoint a delegation for the session of the Assembly and the fact that the voice of the MPs from one of our member states is no longer present in PACE is an exceptional situation,” RIA Novosti quoted the president of PACE on September 6.
According to Agramunt, the PACE Bureau has signed the declaration, which says that it is necessary to find ways to keep open the channels of communication with the Russian Parliament. Pedro Agramunt added that the document also mentioned the need to explore all possibilities for dialogue proposed by the parliamentary diplomacy. It was Agramunt’s third visit to Russia since his election as President of PACE in January 2016.
The PACE delegation is planning to meet with the speaker of the Russian State Duma, Sergey Naryshkin. In April 2014, the Russian PACE delegation was deprived of the right to vote after the annexation of the Crimea. After that, sanctions against Russian delegates in PACE were extended twice.
In January 2016, leadership from the Russian State Duma failed to send a letter with an approved list of members for its delegation in the PACE Secretariat. Formally, it was Russia’s refusal from participation in the Assembly. According to the procedure, a Russian delegation will only be able to attend a PACE session in January 2017.