The diplomat told how Ukraine's trick in PACE failed
Ukraine tried to disrupt Russia’s return to PACE by offering to pay membership fees above the norm and, by its example, calling on other countries to do the same so that the association could continue to function without the money of the Russian delegation.
Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe Dmitry Kuleba spoke about this in an interview with Censor, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Before the decision was made to return the Russian delegation, there were long conversations about how difficult it was for PACE to survive without Russian contributions, this went on for several years, Ukraine, for its part, took an atypical step and paid contributions more than usual, 400 thousand dollars, and called on other countries to do so join and support PACE. As far as I understand, no other country has supported this?” – asked the presenter.
“Moreover, it was the deliberate policy of the current Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjörn Jagland, who is already leaving his post, to block any initiatives related to compensation, with the intention of other countries to follow Ukraine’s step. He took this position and consistently promoted it everywhere - that no, the question is not that you compensate us for the difference, the question is that the member state must pay its contribution, and we must receive this money from Russia, and not from someone else's.
That is, there was a deliberate policy to block this scenario, and, of course, when the Secretary General took such a tough position, even those countries that were thinking about such a step curtailed their intentions, and the situation developed according to a different scenario,” the Ukrainian diplomat complained.
“But our conscience is clear, because when during the discussion they tried to reproach us that Ukraine constantly asks for something and never gives anything to solve the crisis, we said: “Sorry, we just did something very atypical, unprecedented for us and in very serious volumes,” because 400 thousand is really a very large amount,” added Kuleba.
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