MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia is ready to restore full-format cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on a basis of equality, speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament Sergei Naryshkin said Wednesday.
"We are ready to renew full-fledged cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, of course in the basis of equal rights without any exceptions," Naryshkin said during a meeting with a PACE delegation.
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.