Senior PACE Official Hopes Minsk Deal Could Restart Partnership With Russia

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova — The reconciliatory deal on Ukraine worked out by the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine opens up an opportunity to reboot the partnership with Russia, the Head of the Parliament Assembly of the Council of Europe's (PACE) monitoring committee Stefan Schennach told Sputnik news agency Friday.

“From the focus of Council of Europe we have also the chance to restart good relations with the Russian Federation,” Schennach told Sputnik expressing hope that the deal means “the conflict [in Eastern Ukraine] came under control.”

Russia’s cooperation with PACE has been frozen after PACE decided during its January session to strip the Russian delegation of its right to vote and participate in the work of the organization until April 2015. The decision by PACE members came despite the fact that the draft resolution prepared by Schennach, preserved Russia’s voting right. Schennach repeatedly stressed that peace in Europe is not possible without Russia.

Schennach, an Austrian lawmaker, said that ceasefire in eastern Ukraine is possible, but all the points of the plan need to be fulfilled. He also noted that the war crimes committed by both sides of the conflict need to be investigated.

“And in the long run, Ukraine should declare itself as an neutral country with best contacts and relations to both sides, the European Union and the Russian Federation,” Stefan Schennach told Sputnik.

On Thursday, the so-called Normandy Quartet (the heads of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine) held marathon talks in the Belarus capital of Minsk that resulted in a 13-point agreement signed by the authorities of Kiev and the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as representatives of Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The new document stipulates a ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy artillery, constitutional reforms in Ukraine and prisoner exchanges among other measures.