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PACE President Says 'Constructive' Talks Held With Russian Parliament Speaker

© PACE official websiteIn April, PACE suspended Russia's voting rights over the country's reunification with Crimea.
In April, PACE suspended Russia's voting rights over the country's reunification with Crimea. - Sputnik International
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PACE Pedro Agramunt on Wednesday said constructive discussions on PACE-Russian relations and possible reforms.

Delegates at a plenary meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe - Sputnik International
PACE Seeks Russia's Return in Order to Preserve Organization's Influence
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Pedro Agramunt on Wednesday said constructive discussions on PACE-Russian relations and possible reforms to the assembly were held with Russia's lower house of parliament speaker Sergei Naryshkin.

"We had a constructive discussion on a wide range of issues including the relations of the Russian parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly as well as a possible reform of the Assembly rules and procedures," Agramunt said during a press conference after the meeting with Naryshkin.

Russian lawmakers are currently barred from PACE after being suspended over the crisis in Russian-European relations that followed Crimea rejoining Russia.

Earlier in the day, Naryshkin said that Russia was ready to restore full-format cooperation with PACE on a basis of equality. In June, Naryshkin ruled out PACE’s participation in the Russian parliamentary elections on September 18 after the deprivation of the Russian PACE delegation of its rights to vote.

Thierry Mariani, a former French Minister of Transport and current member of the French National Assembly - Sputnik International
PACE May Ease Sanctions Against Russian Delegation to Assembly
Agramunt thanked Naryshkin for bringing up the issue of PACE reforms aimed at improving the assembly's functioning, expressing hope that these proposals would be discussed with PACE national delegations during the next session.

"We would like to thank the speaker, Mr. Naryshkin, and our Russian colleagues for sharing with us the analysis that is very important for us, because [it is] in relation to a number of valid points, reform of the monitoring procedure of the Assembly, ways to increase the participation of members and the voting in the Assembly that increases the legitimacy of our decisions," Agramunt said.

In April 2014, PACE adopted a resolution which barred Russian lawmakers from participating in PACE's three key bodies — its Bureau, Presidential Committee and Standing Committee.

Russia did not renew its credentials ahead of the Parliamentary Assembly’s 2016 winter session and made its return conditional to the restoration of its delegates' rights to vote and participate in PACE institutions.

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