Russia May Become Council of Europe’s Main Sponsor Again if PACE Sanctions Waived

STRASBOURG- Russia is prepared to become the major sponsor of the Council of Europe [CoE] again and to resume the payments of membership fees to it in full on the condition changes are made in the regulations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE] and the clauses allowing to strip the national delegations of powers go, Leonid Slutsky, the chairman of the State Duma committee for international relations said on Tuesday.

 Slutsky represents Russia at a session of PACE’s special commission in charge of harmonizing the activity of CoE constituent bodies.

“We aren’t excessively categoric,” Slutsky said. “We are a country whose patience has been fully exhausted. We’re prepared to be the main sponsor at the Council of Europe again and to continue working with efficiency at the CoE Committee of Ministers, at the Parliamentary Assembly and at the European Court for Human Rights but only after PACE drops off the capability to strip country delegations of power, either in full or partly.”.

TASS

R.S