Macron and Merkel supported what Ukraine did not want
The Russian delegation to PACE must be fully restored, despite the protests of the Ukrainian side, which achieved the imposition of sanctions in 2014 due to the events in Crimea.
On Tuesday evening, the heads of France and Germany supported the return of powers of the Russian delegation in a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin website reports.
“The leaders of the three countries spoke in favor of resolving the situation in the Council of Europe (CoE), which arose as a result of the unlawful deprivation of the Russian delegation of key powers in the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE). Taking into account the results of the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Helsinki on May 17 and France’s accession to the rights of chairman of this Committee, we supported the principled line of fully restoring the rights of the Russian delegation in PACE,” the press service of the Russian President said in a statement.
In addition, “the situation around the internal Ukrainian crisis was discussed, taking into account the failed policy of the administration of Petro Alekseevich Poroshenko and the change in government leadership in Kyiv.”
“The general opinion was expressed that there is no alternative to the Minsk “Package of Measures” of 2015 as the basis for a peaceful settlement. The President of Russia again recalled the priority of the entry into force of the law on the special status of certain regions of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, giving it a permanent character, holding an amnesty, disengaging forces and equipment in previously agreed areas on the line of contact of the parties, as well as steps to establish a direct dialogue between Kyiv and Donetsk and Lugansk. The attention of the interlocutors was also drawn to the discriminatory law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada “On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language.” Confusion was expressed at the refusal of a number of countries to discuss this document in the UN Security Council, which contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine, the Minsk agreements and Kyiv’s international obligations to protect national and linguistic minorities,” the Kremlin press service emphasizes.
As PolitNavigator reported, the Russian Federation was deprived of the right to vote in PACE to please Ukraine after the 2014 events in Crimea.
In response, as a sign of protest, since July 2014, the Russian delegation has refused to participate in PACE meetings. Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko said that Russia will not recognize the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the powers of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, since the Russian delegation does not participate in voting for their candidacies.
“Since we did not vote for the judges of the European Court, now we do not have to listen to this European Court. In addition, if our delegates do not vote in June for a new Secretary General of the Council of Europe, then this is also a non-existent institution for us,” Russian political scientist Sergei Markov previously explained.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.