"Cooperation at the interparliamentary level could be highly beneficial … CSTO Parliamentary Assembly and PACE are convenient floors for producing joint decisions on eliminating global threats," Volodin said at the meeting of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly.
Strengthening security as well as countering international terrorism are among the common interests of Europe and the CSTO, comprising Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Volodin stressed.
Earlier in the day, PACE head Pedro Agramunt expressed hope that Russia would be back to the assembly by end of his term in the beginning of 2018.
Russia left PACE by the late 2015 following the assembly's resolutions in 2014 and 2015 depriving the Russian delegation of the right to vote at the assembly’s sessions, as well as of the right to participate in the work of its three key bodies: the Bureau, the Presidential Committee and the Standing Committee over Crimea's secession to Russia.
Russia did not renew its credentials ahead of the Assembly’s 2016 and 2017 winter sessions and made its return conditional on the full restoration of its delegates' voting rights.
