Russia May Review CoE Contribution Cuts if PACE Returns to Constructive Dialogue

Russia will consider the issue of restoring the previous level of Russian contributions to the Council of Europe (CoE) as soon as a constructive dialogue within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is reestablished, Leonid Slutsky, the chairman of the Russian State Duma International Affairs Committee, said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Russia, which is one of the main contributors to the CoE budget, blocked the transfer of year-end CoE dues totaling 11 million euros ($12.39 million).

"Following the resumption of a constructive cooperation within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, for which we still hope, we will return to the consideration of possible restoration of our contributions to the Council of Europe to the previous level," Slutsky told reporters.

The lawmaker added that there were tendencies, indicating resumption of the constructive dialogue in the PACE framework, but they affected the assembly only partially, and therefore, according to Slutsky, the decision to cut contributions was well-grounded and made in time.

Russia left the PACE in late 2015 following the assembly's resolutions in 2014 and 2015 depriving the Russian delegation of the right to vote at the assembly’s sessions, as well as to participate in the work of its three key bodies: the Bureau, the Presidential Committee and the Standing Committee, over Crimea's reunification with Russia.

Russia did not renew its credentials ahead of the Assembly’s 2016 and 2017 winter sessions and made its return conditional on the full restoration of its delegates' voting rights.