PACE President Out of Contact With Russia After Stripping of Voting Rights

The president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has had no contact with the Russian delegation since January when the assembly had stripped its voting rights, Anne Brasseur said at a press conference on Monday.

STRASBOURG (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova – Brasseur added that in a similar situation last year she had maintained contact with Chairman of Russia's State Duma Sergei Naryshkin, meeting with him personally three times.

"I didn't have any contacts after the January session," Brasseur said.

"In the meantime, I had a possibility during the ministerial conference in Brussels to have just a small conversation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. [Sergei] Lavrov of the Russian Federation to tell him that we want to continue to talk together, because it's only through dialogue that we can progress."

Russia-PACE relations went downhill in April 2014 following the reunification of Crimea with Russia. After heated debates, PACE adopted a resolution stripping the Russian delegation of its voting rights until the end of 2014.

In January 2015, the assembly extended its restrictive measures against Russia. The assembly promised to review this decision at the summer session.

PACE president Anne Brasseur also critisized Russia over Moscow's blacklist of 89 European Union officials and politicians who were banned from entering Russia as two PACE members are included in the list.