MOSCOW (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova — The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) first suspended the Russian delegation's voting rights in spring 2014 in response to Russia's reunification with Crimea.
In January, the Council of Europe's consultative body voted to prolong restrictions on Russia's participation and right to vote until the spring session in April 2015, citing a lack of improvement in the Ukraine crisis. The European Union blames Russia for alleged interference in the conflict in Ukraine, while Moscow has repeatedly dismissed the allegations.
"In different ways we try to stay in contact and I know that Russian delegates miss the Council of Europe and we miss our Russian colleagues," Austrian lawmaker Stefan Schennach told Sputnik.
Schennach urged the Russian delegation to step up measures of cooperation, which include his visit to Crimea as well as an opportunity to see Ukrainian national Nadezhda Savchenko, who is accused of assisting in the killing of Russian reporters in eastern Ukraine and is being held in pretrial detention in Russia.
"Something must be happening, otherwise we will run in another crisis at the January session," Schennach said.
Schennach stressed that Russia should remain within the Council of Europe, citing some successful examples of reports prepared by Russian lawmakers and adopted by the body.
The PACE June session will discuss the report on Russian credentials, vote on it as a draft resolution and make amendments to it if necessary.
The Council of Europe's Monitoring Committee has chosen not to annul the Russian delegation's credentials in the body's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), Schennach told Sputnik.
Schennach, who authored the report, said that the committee's decision now has to be discussed at the PACE summer session in June.
"The committee adopted my report. In paragraph 6, I made the proposal not to annul the credentials of the Russian delegation."
He stressed that despite the decision, the Council of Europe’s sanctions against the Russian delegation, which include stripping it of the voting rights, are still in place.
The report was supported by a "big majority" of the committee, according to the lawmaker.
