French President Emmanuel Macron said he fully supported the decision to maintain Russia’s membership in the Council of Europe.
Macron is speaking at the PACE meeting, broadcast is on the Assembly website.
“I fully support the choice that was made – to preserve (participation) of Russia in the Council of Europe, because Russian people recognize European humanism, because they participated in its creation, because Russia’s geography, history and culture are basically European”, – said Macron, commenting on the return of the Russian delegation to PACE.
On June 26, PACE fully restored the powers of the Russian delegation, which was able to participate in the June session. Discrimination measures against Russian parliamentarians were introduced after the reunification of Crimea with Russia – in April 2014, the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe was deprived of voting rights due to events in Ukraine and the return of Crimea.