Earlier in the day, PACE Vice-President Georgii Logvynskyi told Sputnik that the PACE profile commission has launched a special procedure to consider the impeachment of Agramunt over his March 20 visit to Syria with Russian lawmakers, as current procedures do allow for an impeachment process. The president can, however, leave his post voluntarily. Also on Friday, the PACE Bureau ruled that Agramunt could no longer issue statements or travel on behalf of the organization due to loss of trust.
"The problem of Agramunt was that he genuinely perceives the PACE as a dialogue platform. The place where you settle, not heat up conflicts," the chairman of the upper house of the Russian parliament's international affairs committee wrote on his Facebook page.
"Agramunt … has not been and is not a pro-Russian politician now. … [but] PACE anti-Russian 'circle' is extremely afraid of direct dialogue and is doing everything in order to avoid it," Kosachev added.
On March 20, Agramunt, along with a number of European and Russian parliamentarians, visited Syria to discuss the settlement efforts with the local authorities, namely the country's President Bashar Assad. Argamunt characterized his visit as private and said he did not represent PACE in Syria. The visit, however, prompted criticism from PACE members. On Monday, Agramunt apologized for the trip but the organization’s members demanded a motion of no confidence in PACE president.
