The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) ratified the full powers of the Russian delegation with 96 votes, 44 deputies opposed, 7 abstained.
Russian senator Alexei Pushkov in his Twitter reacted to PACE confirmation of the full delegation’s authority.
The senator noted that the vote showed a major defeat for Ukraine and the Baltic + group in the Council of Europe on the issue of Russia.
“It is time for Ukraine to recognize the failure of its line, andfor the group – to self-dissolve due to sheer impotence”, – Pushkov wrote.
Moreover, Leonid Kalashnikov, member of the Russian delegation, head of the State Duma’s CIS affairs committee, said the following:
“After returning, Russia does not intend to dance to someone’s tune. They expect from us that we will start to trade in something, including the Crimea, but you probably saw and heard that they will not wait for this… We need this platform to show what is happening there today”, – the reporters quoted him as saying.
A member of the Russian delegation to PACE, the head of the Duma committee on international affairs Leonid Slutsky, in turn, noted that the assembly “prevailed a constructive and robust approach”.
“The Baltic Plus group again remained in the minority in its frantic Russophobic hysteria. We will continue to work effectively on the parliamentary platform of the most widespread European organization”, – he said.
Russia was stripped of its rights in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe after the return of Crimea. Moscow suspended participation in meetings, and later froze payments.
Last summer, the powers of Russia were restored, which allowed the delegation to participate in the June session.