PACE May Suspend Russia's Voting Rights Until 2016

MOSCOW, January 19 (Sputnik) — The Netherlands has prepared a draft resolution on debarring Russia from voting in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for one more year, Izvestia newspaper reported Monday, citing members of Russia's PACE delegation.

In April 2014, PACE suspended the voting rights of the Moscow delegation following Crimea's reunification with Russia in March, 2014, a move condemned as illegal by the West and Ukraine.

"Certain chiefs of PACE and the Assembly's committees are currently in Kiev, trying to figure out what to do with the Russian delegation in January. However, the Ukrainians oppose even partial restoring of Russia's rights. As a PACE member, I don't think our rights will be reinstated," Leonid Kalashnikov, a senior Russian lawmaker, told Izvestia.

According to the newspaper, it is unclear whether the Netherlands' draft law would deprive Russia of its voting rights completely or partially. Izvestia quoted another member of the Russian delegation at the organization, Igor Morozov as saying that Russia would only take part in PACE's work if its rights are fully restored.

"Pro-US forces in PACE will do everything to restrict our rights and actually repeat the last year's result," Morozov said.

Voting rights in the organization are renewed annually at the winter session, scheduled to be held in Strasbourg on January 26-30.