Moscow Slams 'Discriminatory' Vaccine-Related Restrictions on Russian Delegation at PACE

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian Foreign Ministry qualified as discriminatory the restrictions on the Russian delegation's attendance of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) autumn session because of the European Union's non-recognition of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.

"We have always accepted understandingly the sanitary restrictions that countries are forced to introduce to counter the spreading of the coronavirus infection ... At the same time, the regime of entry and attendance that is in force in France for Russia's official delegations can only be described as discriminatory," the Russian Foreign Ministry told Sputnik.

The ministry reminded that the Russian delegation at the PACE session would only be allowed to move between hotels and PACE buildings.

"In fact, Russian delegations are forced to work remotely, which puts us in an predeterminedly unequal position compared to representatives of other countries ... And all this happens because the Russians are inoculated with their domestic vaccines, not vaccines produced in the United States or Europe ... We see this as an attempt to create competitive advantages for Western vaccines and pharmaceutical companies," the Russian Foreign Ministry continued.

Late last week, Russia's senior lawmaker Pyotr Tolstoy who heads the delegation confirmed that the delegation would not travel to Strasbourg because of the restrictions and would participate in the autumn session remotely.