"It's a pity that we have lost them. The majority imposed the decision to deprive the Russian delegation from the voting rights. Everybody knew that when this would happen – the Russian delegation would leave the Assembly," Gross told Sputnik.
According to Gross, he and the head of PACE's monitoring committee tried everything to prevent this from happening, saying that PACE members are "convinced that there is no military solution. But there is no peaceful solution without talk and common work."
Earlier this week, PACE adopted a resolution depriving the Russian delegation of voting rights until April. The organization accused Russia of interfering in the Ukrainian conflict, though Moscow has repeatedly denied this.
The head of the Russian delegation, Alexei Pushkov, stated that Russia was suspending its work in PACE until the end of the year in response to the decision.
