After leaving the Council of Europe, the Russian side will save about 34 million euros, Nikolay Kobrinets, director of the department for pan-European cooperation at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
Source: RIA
On March 15, Moscow officially announced its withdrawal from the Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights, stating that it would comply with the decisions of the European Court on Human Rights if they comply with the Russian Constitution.
Later that day, PACE unanimously adopted a resolution in which it pointed out to the Council’s statutory body, the Committee of Ministers, that Moscow could not be a member of the Council. The next day, the Committee of Ministers decided that the Russian Federation ceases to be a member of the organization from March 16.
Prior to that, Russia was one of the main contributors to the budget of the Council of Europe.
Answering a question about how critical the fact that Russia would stop paying contributions could be for the organization, the diplomat pointed out that “how critical the termination of our funding will become, the path is being assessed in Strasbourg.”
“Probably, they will somehow patch up the resulting budget holes, someone will be laid off,” he added. “We will save about 34 million euros annually,” Kobrinets concluded.
When asked if there is a chance that Russia will one day return to the Council of Europe, he pointed out that “for this, the Council of Europe must return to its roots – become a platform for strengthening the unity of the European peoples.”
“But I don’t see such a possibility,” Kobrinets added.
The diplomat explained that “CE mimicry has gone too far.” “In its current state, the Council of Europe has exhausted its potential for us. Everything that was really useful there has already been integrated into Russian legislation. In general, this organization has been deprived of subjectivity, independence. The European Union has turned it into its obedient instrument. There is no point in returning there,” he noted.
“Of course, some kind of cooperation, contacts should remain. Moreover, Russia can continue to participate in dozens of CE conventions open to third countries,” Kobrinets said.
Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal “the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.” For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out “demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.” According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops, and as of March 25, they have completed the main tasks of the first stage – they have significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
Due to censorship and blocking of all media and alternative views, stay tuned to our Telegram channel