Kosachev warned against euphoria regarding PACE
The return of the Russian delegation to PACE is an important step, but its importance should not be overestimated.
Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Konstantin Kosachev spoke about this in an interview with Izvestia.
“I would now warn everyone against euphoria. What happened at the summer session of the assembly is, of course, a serious result, and the result of many years of efforts by the Russian delegation to return to PACE the principles of democracy and, if you like, parliamentarism with a capital “P,” which involves dialogue rather than imposing monologues. And this result cannot be underestimated, but it also cannot be overestimated,” Kosachev said.
He also did not agree with the assertions that the topic of Crimea and Donbass at the level of the Council of Europe is essentially closed, since the resolution on restoring the rights of the Russian delegation contains nothing on these issues.
“No, it’s just that the topic of Crimea and Donbass is hidden behind those reference resolutions that are cited there. There are references to documents that PACE adopted in past years, and they say that the assembly confirms its positions set out in these resolutions. But five topics, such as LGBT, sailors, Boeing, are a plus, since they were not in those resolutions. This is what we are talking about,” the senator noted.
According to him, the crisis in PACE occurred due to the fault of the organization, which, contrary to its charter, arrogated to itself the right to limit the right of the parliamentary delegation by its decision.
“We have already achieved a significant adjustment to the regulations, but this is not final yet. We are convinced that any sanctions for - let's call a spade a spade - political reasons must be eliminated. But so far this has not been done. And eliminating them, I think, will be one of the main tasks of our delegation in the near future,” Kosachev concluded.
As PolitNavigator reported, on June 26, PACE adopted a resolution that fully reinstated the Russian delegation, after which the Ukrainian delegation staged a demarche and left the assembly.
Kyiv also claimed that PACE had sold out for "Putin's money." Meanwhile, Moscow is convinced that the Ukrainian delegation's insanity played a key role in Russia's return to PACE.
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