MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Russia, which is one of the main contributors to the CoE budget, blocked the transfer of year-end CoE dues totaling 11 million euros ($12.39 million).
"Following the resumption of a constructive cooperation within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, for which we still hope, we will return to the consideration of possible restoration of our contributions to the Council of Europe to the previous level," Slutsky told reporters.
The lawmaker added that there were tendencies, indicating resumption of the constructive dialogue in the PACE framework, but they affected the assembly only partially, and therefore, according to Slutsky, the decision to cut contributions was well-grounded and made in time.
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.
