The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe called on the Russian delegation to resume payment of membership fees to Strasbourg, but did not guarantee the return of the rights that the Russian Federation was deprived of at the request of Ukraine since 2014 for the events in Crimea.
“With the adopted resolution, our European colleagues are actually giving us an ultimatum: “come back, pay the money, otherwise we will expel you.” It’s surprising that during all this time, PACE has never learned a simple truth: you can’t talk to Russia in the language of ultimatums!” – commented State Duma Vice Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy.
“We are taking a tough position, saying that we must get exactly the same rights that others have, then we will return to the PACE platform,” reminds Russian political scientist Sergei Markov.
“There is a big game behind all this. What does it consist of? We are in the midst of such European stupidity, which was committed about five years ago, when they believed the neo-Nazi regime and deprived Russia of the right to vote. And now this stupidity, like a cancerous tumor, is metastasizing and can completely liquidate the Council of Europe. What kind of metastases? 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,” the expert added.
Both Tolstoy and Markov clarified that the main opponents of returning Russia’s rights to PACE are now Ukraine and Great Britain.
“If Ukraine had not worked all these years, had not communicated its position and had not built coalitions, then Russia would have been sitting in PACE a long time ago... If it were not for the work of Ukrainian deputies and diplomats in international institutions, then Russia would have succeeded in all those scenarios that we are successfully breaking these 4 and a half years,” Ukrainian MP Borislav Bereza praises himself.
Meanwhile, he admits that Moscow can change the situation in its favor. This is evidenced by the report presented today at PACE by the Dutchman Tinny Cox.
According to Bereza, the document announced in Strasbourg “does not return the Russian delegation to PACE and does not lift sanctions, but lays down mechanisms that can be used in the future under certain circumstances.”
“The next step that our opponents will try to take will be the consent of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to this reform. But there is no consensus,” Bereza clarified.