Kyiv approves Ukrainian delegation’s return to PACE
On January 16, Ukraine’s parliament adopted a statement on the return of Ukraine’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 2020. 348 MPs voted in favor of the decision.
According to the document, parliament has instructed its permanent PACE delegation to submit their credentials for approval for participation in the 2020 annual assembly session, Radio Liberty reports.
“The goal of the Ukrainian delegation’s participation in the operation of PACE is to prevent the continuance of the current situation in Europe, which developed as a result of Russia’s aggressive foreign policy; to bring objective information on Russia’s unlawful actions in the occupied territories of our country and Ukraine’s efforts to put an end to the armed aggression from a Council of Europe member state and overcome its consequences, as well as to prevent the usage of the PACE tribunal for the distribution of false narratives about the situation in Ukraine,” the statement reads.
The statement also mentions Russia’s need to ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in accordance with the commitments it made when it joined the Council of Europe.
The Ukrainian parliamentarians also urged Council of Europe member states to increase the pressure on Russia to keep its international commitments as a member of the Council of Europe, including the resolutions and recommendations passed by the Assembly, in order to restore Russia’s respect for the principles of international law, including the territorial integrity and inviolability of borders in Europe.
On June 26, 2019, PACE voted to reinstate the Russian delegation without sanctions. In response, the delegations from Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine left the assembly hall.