In the Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has called the crisis in relations between Russia and PACE of artificial

In the Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation believe That the crisis in relations between PACE and Russia was organized artificially. About this, speaking in the process open the stand on the cooperation between Russia and the Council of Europe in the state Duma, said Deputy Director of Department of European cooperation Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Alexander Kurmaz.

"We tend to consider the crisis that was artificially organized a year and a half ago with an attempt to make a background for raising the question about the exclusion of Russia from the Council of Europe, as a reflection of the marginal trend in European political thought ", He said.

punishment against the Russian delegation to PACE were introduced in April last year because of the position of the Russian Federation on Ukraine and Crimea. The Russian deputies were deprived of the right to vote, the right to participate in meetings of statutory bodies and monitoring activities. In 2015 the penalties were extended. The head of the PACE Anne Brasseur said before, the issues of restoration of credentials of the delegation of the Russian Federation have the opportunity to be reviewed in January 2016.

"As for the situation in PACE, there is very much artificial, coupled with objective trends. The current leadership of this parliamentary structure was unprepared for the scale of the challenges faced by the organization, " said Kurmaz. He expressed the hope That the crisis in relations with PACE does not affect the work of other Council of Europe bodies.


sections: Politics