Dutch Delegate Says PACE Should Not Suspend Russia’s Voting Rights

Dutch delegate to the PACE hopes the assembly will not suspend the voting rights of the Russian delegation.

STRASBOURG, January 28 (Sputnik) — The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) should not suspend the Russian delegation’s voting rights, because this sanction is ineffective, Dutch politician and a delegate to the PACE Tiny Kox told Sputnik Wednesday.

"I hope that the assembly will be wise enough not to suspend the voting rights of the Russian delegation, not because we like them, but because the Russian delegation needs us. We had this sanction since April and it did not have any effect, everybody agrees, so you should not continue with sanctions which are not effective," Kox told Sputnik after the sitting of the Monitoring Committee.

Kox also said that the assembly’s actions must be rational, rather than emotional.

"We should have the Russians in, in order to say what we do not like about the behavior of the Russian government, and if they are not around, we cannot reach them."

On Wednesday, the PACE plenary session will discuss the credentials of the Russian delegation in the assembly, including its voting rights.

In spring 2014, PACE suspended the Russian delegation's voting rights in response to Russia's reunification with Crimea. In response, Russia's delegation walked out of the assembly's spring 2014 session. Later in 2014, Moscow officially informed PACE of its decision to halt bilateral cooperation and withdraw from the summer and the autumn sessions of the assembly.