Russia's Parliament Speaker to Take Part in PACE Session in January

Russia's State Duma's speaker is expected to meet with PACE members during the organization's winter session.

MOSCOW, January 12 (Sputnik) — The speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, Sergei Naryskin, will take part in the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on January 26-30, his press secretary said Monday.

"On the invitation by PACE President Anne Brasseur, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin is expected to meet with PACE members during the [PACE] winter session," Yevgenia Chugunova said.

In April 2014, PACE suspended the Russian delegation's voting rights after Crimea's March 2014 reunification with Russia. In protest, the Russian delegation walked out of the assembly's spring session and did not attend the summer session.

In November 2014, Naryshkin said that the Russian delegation was prepared to return to full-fledged work at PACE the following January, since the rights of each delegation have been renewed annually.

The head of the Russian delegation, Alexei Pushkov, said in December 2014 that an increasing number of European lawmakers were in favor of reinstating the Russian delegation.