ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — Russia may apply for return to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in January, the head of the Russian State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee, Alexei Pushkov, said Thursday.
"If there are no changes to the mood within PACE, then, of course, this will have an impact on our approach. We will certainly not appear there until January. After State Duma elections, we may once again apply to take part, but we will not make it to the October session. We can only talk about January," Pushkov told reporters.
The statement comes after PACE President Pedro Agramunt's meeting with Russian parliamentary speakers Valentina Matvienko and Sergei Naryshkin. The PACE president said that he intends to continue contacts with Russia. Agramunt is currently taking part in the session of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Interparliamentary Assembly in Russia’s St. Petersburg.
A PACE resolution in April 2014 deprived the Russian delegation of its voting rights, in response to Crimea's secession from Ukraine and rejoining Russia. Russian lawmakers were barred 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.
