Legally Russia can not withdraw From PACE, participation in the working structures of the Council of Europe is in our national interests, said Last news on Thursday the head of the international Department of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev.

"The PACE of exit can not be purely legally, as we entered the organization with the name of the Council of Europe, and it's not only PACE, but also the Committee of Ministers with its conventions (the Russian Federation participates in more than 50) and programmes, the Committee of local and regional authorities of Europe, where the Russian delegation continues to be active, the European court of human rights, to which Russia is cooperating, and So on," said the Senator.

according to him, these developments pose to the Russian Federation practical interest and must be saved." for this reason the further membership of Russia in the Council of Europe meets our national interests and for me to be certain, including the status of major payer in the budget of the organization as defined by current Russian legislation, " - said Kosachev.

the MP said that about PACE's position was succinctly formulated by Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko in the process of a recent meeting with the head Assembly Anne Brasseur: the punishment is unacceptable to resume the interaction only in the absence of any restrictions for the Russian delegation." The ball on the side of the PACE, waiting for discussion at the January session, " Head of the Federation Council.

first Deputy head of the international Department of the Federation Council Andrei Klimov said that the Russian Federation will not return to participate in the PACE, as long as it will not be charged penalties, in the future it is possible the output From this structure. Review of the speaker of the state Duma Sergei Naryshkin, do not hurry to pay a fee to the Council of Europe in full.

punishment against the Russian delegation to PACE were introduced in April last year because of the position of the Russian capital in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea and were renewed in January 2015. The head of the Russian delegation Alexei Pushkov said that before the end of 2015, Russia remains a member of the Council of Europe: the contributions already paid.

The Russian contribution is 10% of the budget of the Council of Europe.

sections: Politics