PACE supports Russia's return to Council of Europe
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution that returns the right of the Russian Federation to vote at the meetings of the Assembly.
One hundred eighteen euro-deputies supported the decision, sixty-two deputies voted against, and ten abstained, said First Deputy Chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Herashchenko.
The resolution changes the PACE rules and complicates the procedure for applying sanctions, in particular against Russia.
Earlier, members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe rejected more than 200 Ukrainian amendments to the resolution on the return of the Russian delegation to PACE.
Earlier on June 24, PACE rejected the proposal to hold a debate on MH17.
In 2014, the Russian delegation was deprived of the basic powers. At the meeting on October 9, 2018, PACE did not return Russia the right to vote and postponed this issue till 2019.
In April 2019, PACE adopted a resolution "On challenges to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe," which was initially intended to remove sanctions pressure from the Russian Federation.