MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia should participate in all activities of the Council of Europe including in its Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), PACE President Pedro Agramunt said Friday.
“Russia is an important member state of the Council of Europe and, therefore, it should participate in all activities of the Organisation, including in the Parliamentary Assembly. We have to work together to achieve this. They say, ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’. I am confident that we have the will to progress and I am looking forward to the continuation of our contacts,” Agramunt said after a meeting with Russian lawmakers, as quoted by the official PACE website.
The meeting took place after Agramunt’s speech at the 44th plenary session of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Russia's second largest city of St. Petersburg.
Russia left PACE in 2015 after the Assembly adopted several resolutions condemning Crimea's reunification with Russia as well as alleged Russia interference in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. PACE also imposed sanctions on the Russian delegation, barring Russian lawmakers from participating in PACE's three key bodies — its bureau, presidential committee and standing committee.
