Russia to Take Part in PACE Standing Committee on March 10 in Madrid

A Russian parliamentary delegation will take part in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) standing committee's work in Spain next month, a senior Russian senator told Sputnik on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Chairman of the Russian upper house's foreign affairs committee Konstantin Kosachev said an invitation has been received to attend the PACE standing committee, comprising only heads of delegations, in Madrid on March 10.

"We are forming a delegation, three people each from the State Duma [lower house] and the Council of the Federation [upper house]," Kosachev said.

The senator said the meeting's agenda, proposed by PACE President Pedro Agramunt, includes an exchange of views on the modalities of cooperation between PACE and the Russian parliament in 2017.

Russia will not return to full-scale work with PACE until its rules relating to delegation authority are amended, chairman of the Russian lower house of parliament's international affairs committee Leonid Slutsky said Tuesday.

"We will not return to full-scale participation in the PACE assembly until the assembly revises its regulations, and depriving delegations of authority will not be impossible on the basis of the assembly rules," Slutsky told reporters.

PACE adopted resolutions in April 2014 depriving the Russian delegation of the right to vote at the assembly’s sessions, as well as of the right to participate in the work of its three key bodies: the Bureau, the Presidential Committee and the Standing Committee.

The assembly linked the move to disagreement with Crimea’s accession to Russia. In response, Russia left the assembly by the late 2015.